Geneva, Sept 25: Pashtun Tahafuz Movement leader Manzoor Pashteen has described Pakistan as “Punjabi colonialism” and said its industries were being run by seizing Balochistan’s gas, minerals and gold.
Those who speak against this plunder of resources are labelled terrorists and then jailed or disappeared, he said while mentioning the fate of Mahrang Baloch, Beebo Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch, Bebagr Baloch, Sibghatullah Baloch and several other people who are in prison for the peaceful advocacy of Baloch human rights.
He was addressing online the 12th Balochistan International Conference at the Geneva Press Club, organised by the Baloch National Movement. The conference was dedicated to the memory of BNM’s martyred chairman, Zubair Baloch.
According to Manzoor Pashteen these activists have “no other crime” except that they raised their voice peacefully. He said the state of Pakistan had imprisoned them and given them life sentences.
He said Baloch young people were being disappeared on a daily basis and that in Balochistan, children and women inside their homes were also being killed in aerial aggression.
He said the state is not prepared to accept Balochistan as the land of the Baloch and is trying to give its domination a constitutional form.
He said Pashtuns too are facing the same kind of conditions. We have data on more than two hundred thousand affected people; thousands have been killed and thousands are missing. Over the past two years women and children have also been targeted in drone and helicopter attacks.
He further said that in 2025 and 2026, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 72 children aged one year or under were killed in Pakistan Army drone attacks.
Manzoor Pashteen said that despite human-rights violations Pakistan is overlooked because it flatters US President Donald Trump. In his words: “The flattery of one man is being given more importance than the killing of hundreds of thousands of people.”
Referring to the European Union’s GSP+, he said helicopters and warplanes used in aggression against villages were being run with resources obtained from that economic concession. He said that even after evidence was presented, Europe kept this status in place and Germany supported it.
He demanded of Europe that if a major step is not possible, then at least more funds and weapons should not be given to such a state, on which there are accusations of abuses.
He told the Baloch, PTM’s Pashtun workers, Sindhis and Kashmiris that pamphlets should be distributed among the public in Europe and the question asked why tax should be given to a country on which there are grave accusations.
Explaining protest in front of United Nations offices, he said there are restrictions on protest in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is why people come to Geneva.
At the end he praised BNM’s programme and spoke of continuing the alliance of PTM, BNM and other organisations. He said that in Afghanistan too, children and women are mostly being killed in aerial bombardment.
