The Baloch National Movement (BNM) South Korea Chapter held a protest demonstration on Saturday in front of Busan Station against the construction of a fence around the city of Gwadar in Pak-occupied Balochistan.
The protesters carried banners and placards highlighting the negative impacts of the fencing project on the local population. They accused Pak authorities of attempting to imprison the residents of Gwadar through this initiative.
“The fencing will pose serious threats to the livelihood and safety of the local residents,” a BNM representative stated during the protest. The demonstration aimed to draw attention to the plight of those affected by enforced disappearances and other human rights violations in Pak-occupied- Balochistan, a region that has witnessed a long-running atrocities and oppression by Pak Army.
Agha Faiz, one of the speakers at the protest, addressed the crowd, saying, “We belong to the Baloch nation, which is occupied by Pakistan. Our people are routinely killed and abducted by state forces. We reject the slavery of the so-called Islamic state of Pakistan.”
The Gwadar fencing project is against the rights of the local people and serves the interests of foreign stakeholders, referring to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative. “The fencing around Gwadar is part of CPEC, which we consider a neo-colonial project aimed at handing over Gwadar to China,” said one of the protesters.
Since the inception of CPEC, the local residents of Gwadar have faced fear and violence as they are being displaced from their ancestral lands. Previously, Gwadar was surrounded by military cantonments, checkposts, and camps, but now a fence is being erected around the entire city.
The protesters distributed hundreds of pamphlets highlighting the impacts of the fencing on the local Baloch population and the increase in fear due to heightened security control over the area. The fencing project is a grave violation of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
Earlier, Baloch National Movement (BNM) took their message of freedom and justice to the streets of Cambridge to denounce the ongoing Pak Military atrocities, including killings, abductions of civilians, and the prolonged occupation.