Dr. Mahrang Baloch of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee has been recognized in Time magazine’s “2024 Time100 Next” announced on Wednesday for her peaceful campaign for the rights of Balochs. This list showcases 100 emerging leaders: artists, sports stars, activists and more. The journal notes that influence and leadership come in different forms.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch was known for her sit-ins, particularly a long march to Islamabad in December 2003 by herself and hundreds of women who demanded their disappeared relatives be brought home. Her response on being awarded of this recognition was conveyed through her Facebook account wherein she thanked all friends associated with the group and dedicated it to “Baloch Women Human Rights Defenders & Families Of Forcibly Disappeared”.
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The teenager came to activism after her father, Ghaffar Longove, disappeared from outside a Karachi hospital in December 2009 when she was an elementary school student. The eldest of six siblings, she protested by burning her schoolbooks in front of the Quetta Press Club and demanding her father’s return. The victim’s mutilated body was found in 2011.
Dr Mahrang aided in planning a major rally and sit-in against enforced disappearances in Islamabad on December 2023. A report released in July revealed 197 new cases of missing persons reported during the first half of this year, majority of which were from Balochistan.
Notable names on the list include Bangladesh student leader Nahid Islam, who helped organize protests that forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina into exile before returning to politics as a member of an interim government and Gazan food blogger Hamada Shaqoura, who has garnered acclaim for posting wartime recipes that he delivers to those in need during the ongoing conflict.
Shaqoura said he was pleased that his name would appear on the list, but it wasn’t a cause for celebration as Palestinians and Lebanese continue to suffer.
