Pakistani rights activist's death in Toronto 'non-criminal', police say

Pakistani rights activist found dead in Toronto Lateef Johar, a friend of Karima Baloch, discusses her human rights work at University and how she was outspoken against the Pakistan military.

TORONTO — The death of prominent Pakistani rights activist, 37-year-old Karima Baloch, is being treated as “non-criminal,” Toronto police say.

Baloch, who was also known as Karima Mehrab, reportedly went missing Sunday around 3 p.m. in the Bay Street and Queens Quay West area.

Toronto Police posted an appeal for information early Monday morning, asking for anyone who had seen her to come forward.

The police tweeted an update later that day, saying that she had been “located” and a further release later confirmed she had been found.

In an email to CTV News, a press officer confirmed that Baloch had been found deceased, and that it was being “investigated as a non-criminal death” and there are “not believed to be any suspicious circumstances.”

Baloch’s husband told the Guardian that her body had been found on Toronto’s Centre Island.

Who was Karima Baloch?

Baloch was an activist from the Balochistan region in western Pakistan, and a vocal critic of the Pakistani military and state establishment.

She was well known, and was the first female head of the banned activist group Baloch Student’s Organization, according to the BBC. Other members of her extended family with ties to the activist movement have gone missing and later been found dead.

Earlier this year, another exiled Balochian and relative to Ms. Baloch, journalist Sajid Hussain was found dead in Sweden where he had claimed political asylum from Pakistan, two months after he went missing.

Activists say that Balochian protesters are being targeted by the Pakistani military – a claim they deny.

Baloch left Pakistan in 2015, and claimed asylum in Canada in 2016 after terrorism charges were laid against her.

Baloch was named as one of the BBC’s “annual list of 100 inspirational and influential women” in 2016 for her work, and tirelessly advocated for the rights of people living in Balochistan online and in person, even in exile.

Lateef Johar Baloch, a friend of Ms. Baloch, told CTV News that he had known her since 2009, that she was studying at the University of Toronto, and “the Pakistan military threatened her and her family members” and engaged in “blackmail to stop her activism and [from] naming the Pakistani military.”

He told the BBC about the continued threats made against Baloch, including a recent “warning that someone would send her a ‘Christmas gift, and ‘teach her a lesson.’”

The last thing Baloch shared on Twitter was a Guardian article outlining the “plight of Pakistan’s thousands of disappeared.”

A report from the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances says there are 1,144 cases of allegations of ‘enforced disappearances’ from Pakistan between 1980 and 2019 – 731 of those are still missing, and activists say many cases will never reach a UN committee.

Kiran Nazish, co-founder of the Coalition For Women in Journalism, told CTV News that Baloch was very young when those tragic stories were happening around her and ultimately inspired her to take a stance.

She explained that Baloch “knew many of her neighbours and family members who were disappeared” and was friends with outspoken people and fellow activists who would end up dead.

“She told me many times that she thought she could be killed as well.,” she said. “And even here in Canada she did fear getting killed.” Nazish praised Baloch for being “really brave” and “extremely inspiring," because despite being afraid, she still continued to raise her voice.

Public Reaction

Reaction to Baloch’s death has seen an outpouring of grief and demands for justice in the public and activist spheres.

Amnesty International South Asia tweeted: “The death of activist Karima Baloch in Toronto, Canada is deeply shocking and must immediately and effectively be investigated.”

Others began pointing fingers, accusing Pakistan or other governments of targeting Baloch on Canadian soil.

But most have been calling Baloch a hero, as the community mourns another death.