Time magazine’s 2024 ‘Time-100’ includes the name of a woman who stood up against repression in Baluchistan, Pakistan. The name of this famous human rights activist is Mahrang Baloch. This famous magazine publishes the list of 100 most influential people in the world every year.
Time magazine wrote, this woman who inspired hope among the Baloch organized the peaceful Islamabad march in December 2023. Their demand was justice for husbands, sons and brothers imprisoned and killed in Pakistani jails.
It should be noted that hundreds of people of Baloch community are missing in the struggle for independence of Balochistan. News from Dawn and Express Tribune.
In an interview given to Time magazine, Mahrang Baloch said, there are many threats. There is a lot of oppression. I dedicate this recognition to all Baloch women, human rights defenders and families of enforced disappearances.
Mahrang suddenly came into the limelight in December 2009 after his father Gaffar Longov went missing from outside a hospital in Karachi.
She was a primary school student then. Mahrang, the eldest of six siblings, protested by burning his school books in front of the Quetta Press Club demanding the return of his father. His father’s dismembered body was found in 2011.
His father was a political activist of the Azad Balochistan struggle. In 2017, Mahrang’s brother was also kidnapped. After that, Mahrang became an active human rights activist. In 2019, Mahrang established the Balochistan Yekjethi Committee. Since then he started holding small meetings and processions.
Born in Kala, Balochistan, Mahrang is a doctor by profession. He also joined the Baloch Resistance Movement. His fight was mainly for the families of people killed indiscriminately, and other human rights.
In December 2023 Dr. Mahrang was one of the organizers of the massive march and sit-in in Islamabad to protest the enforced disappearances.
According to a report published last July, a total of 197 cases of disappearances occurred in Pakistan during the first half of 2024, most of which were recorded in Balochistan.
Bangladeshi student leader Nahid Islam and Gaza food blogger Hamada Shakoura are more notable in this list of Time magazine.
