Toronto rally calls for release of Mahrang Baloch

Organisers said the protest marked the beginning of a wider solidarity campaign calling for their release from what they described as unlawful detention by the Pakistani government.

According to the council, the rally was organised in support of Baloch, currently held in Hudda Jail in Quetta, and other political workers. "We are here today for the release of Baloch political workers, especially our women, girls and daughters. They have been illegally abducted by the Pakistani government, by the Pakistani state," said a member of the council.

A member from the crowd said, "We are gathered here today to express our concern on the arrest an imprisonment of human rights activist Dr Mahrang Baloch, who is a big voice in Balochistan against the enforced disappearances and atrocities committed by the state of Pakistan. She has been imprisoned when she was protesting outside the hospital where the bodies of many people had been brought. The families were concerned that they belonged to people who had been made to disappear by force, who were being tortured and executed. (She) demanded these bodies be identified and the bodies be shown to the families for the same. The state instead arrested her."

He continued, "It is very important to us, the Canadian Baloch, Canadian government, international community, European Union, and the UN, that they should raise their voice and pressurise the Pakistani government and their institutions who are holding Mahrang in prison. We have concerns that she was poisoned..."

The demonstration was hosted by the Baloch Human Rights Council of Canada and attended by members of various diaspora communities, including Iranian, Kurdish, Pashtun, and Sindhi rights groups. The President of Pashtun Council Canada, Bushra Khan, stated: "I am here to stand beside my Baloch friends to demand the release of Mahrang Baloch."

Protestors carried banners and raised slogans calling for the Pakistani government to free Baloch and other BYC members. Speakers at the event claimed that Islamabad was attempting to link Baloch's peaceful civil rights campaign to terrorism-related charges.

They said Baloch's activism focused on civil liberties and women's rights and pointed to her recent nomination for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

In a press release issued after the rally, the Baloch Human Rights Council alleged that the Pakistani state and its security agencies were responsible for enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings, and widespread human rights violations in Balochistan. The council also raised concerns over what it described as increasing violence against Baloch women.

The protest follows weeks of international attention on the Baloch civil rights movement and comes amid growing criticism of Pakistan's security operations in the region. Organisers said further demonstrations may follow in other cities in the coming weeks. (ANI)