Who was Karima Baloch? All about the activist championing Balochistan s freedom found dead in Canada Updated Dec 23, 2020 | 17:53 IST
In 2016, Karima Baloch had sent a video message on Rakhi Day to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his help to save the thousands of Baloch student activists from torture at Pakistani establishments hands. Karima Baloch | Photo Credit: Twitter
Key Highlights
Karima Baloch was a fearlessly vocal activist who demanded justice to the thousands of Baloch freedom fighters who have been abducted and disappeared by Pakistani state agencies
With her life as a Students Movement leader under threat, she had fled to Toronto in 2017 but always decried ISI and Pakistani Army s excesses
Pakistani Human Rights Activist Found Dead While Living in Exile in Toronto
The body of Pakistani human rights activist Karima Baloch was found in Toronto, Canada earlier this week.
Baloch, 37, who was living in exile in Toronto was reported missing on Sunday. Police say there were “not believed to be any suspicious circumstances” in her death as of yet.
Lateef Johar Baloch, a close friend and fellow activist told BBC that Baloch recently received anonymous threats from someone wanting to send her a “Christmas gift” and “teach her a lesson.”
Baloch campaigned for the rights of people in the Balochistan region of western Pakistan where she was a well-known activist. The region is known for its separatist insurgency fighting for autonomy and Baloch was a harsh critic of the Pakistani government. She was branded a terrorist and fled to Canada to continue her campaign in exile.
BBC News
Published
image captionKarima Baloch was reported missing on Sunday
The body of Karima Baloch, a Pakistani human rights activist, has been found in Toronto, Canada, where she had been living for five years in exile.
Ms Baloch, 37, a campaigner from the restive region of Balochistan in western Pakistan, was a vocal critic of the Pakistani military and state.
Toronto police issued an appeal after she went missing on Sunday and later confirmed that her body had been found.
Police said there were not believed to be any suspicious circumstances .
In 2016, Ms Baloch was named in the BBC s annual list of 100 inspirational and influential women for her work as a campaigner. She left Pakistan in 2015, after terrorism charges were levelled against her.