Baloch activist criticises Pakistani media’s coverage of their long march, demonstrations

Political activist, Mahrang Baloch, a key figure in the ongoing Baloch protest in Islamabad, has slammed the Pakistani media for its coverage of the protests, according to The Balochistan Post.The lead organiser of the long march decried what she saw as serious antagonism and bias from certain journalists towards the Baloch demonstrators in a video message from the protest camp outside the Islamabad Press Club.

Baloch stated that, with the exception of a few journalists who reported honestly, she met great hostility from others, whom she accused of functioning as state operatives disguised as Pakistani journalists.”In these three days in Islamabad, we encountered nothing but hatred towards the Baloch from those masquerading as journalists,” Dr Baloch went on to say, according to The Balochistan Post.

She stated her goal to share her hostile experiences with the Baloch country, regarding them not as a reason for grief but as a chance to demonstrate the genuine views of Pakistani media persons against the Baloch people.The Baloch protestors alleged on Tuesday that three men entered their camp at midnight on Monday and harassed the women who were sleeping there, besides other girls.

One of the activists, Sammi Deen Baloch, stated that last night, cameras were installed in the camp.However, these men closed the cameras and showed pistols to the marchees and entered the camp.”Closing the cameras that were installed last night, then getting off 3 people from 2 vehicles in the presence of the police, showing pistols to the comrades, entering our camp and harassing the women, taking the sound speakers from where all of us women and girls were sleeping, and escaping with them added to your low standard,” she wrote in a post on X.

The leader of the Baloch Solidarity Committee, Mahrang Baloch, noted that instead of ending the genocide and human rights violations, they attacked our camp at midnight.
“We travelled 100s of KM & came to the capital of this state to protest against the #BalochGenocide, but you see the seriousness of this state.

Instead of ending our genocide & HR violations, they attacked our camp at 3:15 AM, & stole our sound system,” she posted on X.Earlier, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee complained that the Islamabad Police was using different tools to harass the Baloch protestors and have now installed surveillance cameras to threaten them and the families of Baloch’s missing people.

The march from Turbat to Islamabad faced numerous challenges, with the state imposing ‘barriers and arrests’, yet the “march united Baloch and revealed the government’soppressive actions”, the Baloch Yakjahti Committee added.The committee said the movement began with a peaceful sit-in in Turbat, lasting 13 days, before transitioning into a peaceful long march covering hundreds of kilometres to reach the capital.