Several members of the Baloch diaspora in the United Kingdom gathered outside 10 Downing Street in London this week to protest what they described as a “brutal military operation” by Pakistan’s armed forces in the Zehri region of Balochistan.
The demonstration, organized by the Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ), sought to draw international attention to escalating human rights violations in Pakistan’s restive province.
Protesters carried banners and chanted slogans demanding an end to the ongoing military crackdown. They urged the British government to “break its silence” and hold Islamabad accountable for what they called systematic abuses.
“Ordinary residents of Zehri are living under a siege-like situation,” BVJ said in a statement. “Women and children are being killed in bombings, roads are blocked, and curfews have trapped the population in fear and isolation.”
BVJ described the campaign as part of a “systematic genocide” of the Baloch people and called on international human rights organizations to send fact-finding missions to investigate alleged atrocities.
The protest comes amid intensifying violence in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province, where separatist movements have long demanded autonomy or independence. The Pakistani military has repeatedly launched operations in the province, claiming to target armed insurgents.
However, rights groups and Baloch activists say civilians are frequently caught in the crossfire, with entire villages subjected to raids, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings.
According to the human rights organization Paank—the human rights arm of the Baloch National Movement (BNM)—the pattern of state repression continues to deepen.
On October 19, Pakistani Frontier Corps (FC) personnel allegedly raided a shop in Mastung district and abducted a shopkeeper named Adnan Baloch.
He has not been seen since. “Adnan is a shopkeeper who was supporting a whole family,” Paank stated. “His forced disappearance is part of the ongoing pattern of state brutality in Balochistan.”
The group condemned what it called “illegal arrests” and demanded the immediate release of all Baloch civilians who have been forcibly disappeared.
Human rights observers say that cases like Adnan’s are emblematic of a long-standing crisis in the region. The Human Rights Council of Balochistan has documented hundreds of enforced disappearances this year alone, describing the practice as systematic and state-sanctioned. Local activists claim that Pakistan’s security forces frequently conduct raids without warrants, detaining men and boys who later go missing without trace.
International rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly called on Pakistan to end the practice of enforced disappearances and to ensure accountability for violations.
Islamabad has consistently denied allegations of abuse, maintaining that its security operations in Balochistan are necessary to curb terrorism and maintain national security.
Despite these denials, protests like the one in London underscore growing international frustration over Pakistan’s handling of Balochistan.
Members of the diaspora community say they have been forced to speak out abroad because domestic activism in Pakistan is met with intimidation, censorship, and persecution.
As the conflict in Balochistan intensifies, human rights groups warn that continued silence from powerful democracies risks enabling further abuses. The BVJ’s appeal to the British government reflects this concern: “The world cannot look away while an entire population is being bombed, detained, and silenced,” the group said.
