New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) While resource-rich Balochistan accounts for roughly half of Pakistan’s discovered mineral wealth, the state’s population is amongst the poorest in the country, with human rights suppression adding to the woes of the people along with the economic exploitation.The state accounts for 90 per cent of the country’s copper reserves, substantial gold, sizable coal deposits, chromite, barite, marble, and other industrial minerals. Hydrocarbon resources are also signific…
Latest Human Rights Watch News & Updates
Islamabad, March 10 (IANS) The Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement (JSFM) has condemned the enforced disappearance of its Jamshoro district president Saeed Tiyono and activist Sabir Abro by Pakistani state agencies, terming it as a “clear example of state brutality, state terrorism, and a grave violation of fundamental human rights”. The JSFM central leadership has warned of launching a strong protest movement, including the blockade of the Jamshoro National Highway, if Tiyono and Abro are not immediate…
Quetta, Feb 26 (IANS) Another two civilians were extrajudicially killed by Pakistani forces in Balochistan, a leading human rights organisation said on Thursday. The latest incidents come against the backdrop of a growing wave of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances across the province.Human rights body Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) revealed that the tortured and lifeless body of Nasram Baloch was found dumped on Thursday in the Makseen Nadi area of the province. He had been subj…
New York, Feb 24 (IANS) Human Rights Watch (HRW), a US-based advocacy group, on Tuesday accused the Iranian authorities of waging a brutal campaign to “terrorise” civilians through mass arbitrary detentions, torture, and enforced disappearances following the killings of protesters and bystanders across Iran by security forces on January 8 and 9.The protests, which initially erupted on December 28, 2025, from two markets in the Iranian capital Tehran over rising inflation and the steep fall i…
Berlin, Feb 23 (IANS) The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has once again expressed grave concerns over what it has described as China’s escalating “transnational repression” targetting Uyghurs abroad.In its weekly briefing, the WUC stated that it joined around 70–80 Uyghurs in Switzerland on February 15 in a strong demonstration organised by the Swiss Uyghur community showing “unity, resilience, and solidarity”.Citing reports by German ‘Table Media’, the WUC also raised concerns over the use…
Quetta, Feb 22 (IANS) Human rights body Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has strongly condemned the alarming surge in extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and staged “fake encounters” across Balochistan during the month of February.In its latest report, the BYC confirmed that 19 individuals have been extrajudicially killed, while noting that additional cases have yet to be independently verified or officially documented.”Children, youth, and elders are being targeted. Families see…
Dhaka, Feb 19 (IANS) Business confidence weakened, industrial production slowed, and there were no significant new initiatives or major domestic or foreign investments in Bangladesh under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus who had taken over as the Chief Advisor of the interim government during a crucial period following the fall of government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, a report has highlighted. According to renowned economist and former Vice-Chancellor of Jahangirn…
Islamabad, Feb 18 (IANS) A Pakistan court has rejected bail for a blind Christian man charged with blasphemy, despite apparent discrepancies in the police report and prosecution testimonies, local media reported, quoting his lawyer. The case adds to ongoing concerns over the misuse of blasphemy laws against religious minorities in the country.Muhammad Jawad Zafar of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on February 4 dismissed the bail petition of 49-year-old Nadeem Masih, who has been in custody since Au…
Ankara, Feb 10 (IANS) Many of the estimated 50,000 exiled Uyghurs in Turkey who have sought refuge from persecution in their homeland of North West China – particularly those denied permanent citizenship and passports by Turkish authorities – now live in growing fear of being returned to face imprisonment, torture and the wrath of Beijing. Those who escaped the recent wave of arrests and the 2016 internment in China’s so-called “re-education camps” feel particularly vulnerable, a report sa…
Washington, Feb 6 (IANS) With Bangladesh heading for elections next week, the Muhammad Yunus led interim government which came to power in 2024 following the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government, failed to maintain law and order and deliver on promised human rights reforms, a leading US-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its 2026 World Report.The HRW stated that the interim government arbitrarily detained thousands of perceived political opponents and, in May, …