Baloch Activist Karima Baloch Found Dead

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What has happened?

Karima Baloch, an activist from Balochistan who escaped Pakistan in 2016 to take refuge in Canada, Was found dead in Harbourfront near Toronto’s lakeshore.
Karima Baloch had gone missing on Sunday around 3 pm.
Toronto Police had requested public assistance in locating her.

Karima Baloch was a Canadian refugee from Pakistan who first rose to prominence as a vocal critic of the Pakistani government in 2016,
After she ran away from the country and sought exile in Canada.
Formerly a student of psychology in Pakistan, Karima was also the former chairperson of Baloch Students Organisation – Azad.
Karima Baloch claimed she escaped a Pakistani military attack and stayed underground for nearly a year Before escaping the country to take refuge in Toronto.
In 2016, BBC had included Baloch in their ‘BBC 100 Women 2016’ list for her work involving “campaigns for independence for Balochistan from Pakistan.”
She had used her social media profile to highlight abductions, torture, forced disappearances and other human rights violations,
That people in Balochistan were being subjected to by the Pakistan government and the army.

In her activism, she had placed emphasis on fighting for the rights of Balochi women, and Highlighted how the legal system and religious groups in Pakistan would use state and social machinery to intentionally target women, particularly from vulnerable groups.
In her last tweet on December 14, she had shared a news report by The Guardian

In May 2019, Karima Baloch had accused Pakistan of taking away the resources and eliminating the people of Balochistan.
Karima Baloch had also raised the issue of Balochistan in the United Nations sessions in Switzerland.

In 2016, Karima Baloch recorded a ‘Raksha Bandhan message’ for PM Narendra Modi.
Urging PM Modi to speak against war crimes in Balochistan, Karima Baloch, in a video message to the prime minister, said,
“On this day I have come to you and would like to say that we consider you as our brother.”

Baloch activists claim that the province was forcibly taken over by Pakistan on March 27, 1948.
The activists claim that without the forcible occupation, Balochistan – the largest and resource-rich yet most backward province of Pakistan –Could have been a free nation.
The region has since seen ongoing insurgency with the Balochistan Liberation Army, one of the most prominent separatist groups in Balochistan,
Carrying out several terror attacks on Pakistani military locations as well as security personnel.
The organisation has been branded ‘terrorist’ by the Pakistani government.

Karima Baloch is not the first Balochistan activist to turn up dead Journalist Sajid Hussain, also from Baloch and another critic of Pakistan’s alleged occupation of the region, went missing from Swededn’s
The journalist turned up dead in May.
‘Reporters without Borders’ reported later that the death may have been orchestrated by Pakistani Intelligence
In October 4, 2016, yet another human rights activist Shabbir Baloch was arrested by Pakistan and subsequently went missing.
According to reports, he was abducted by the Pakistani Army from Gowarkop when he was attending the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).