After Geneva and London, anti-Pakistan advertisements have appeared on yellow taxicabs in New York.
Pakistan had earlier strongly condemned the campaigns in the United Kingdom and Switzerland, with Pakistani officials putting the blame on an enemy country. Although Pakistan did not publicly name it, the reference was aimed at neighbouring India.
The Foreign Office had termed the anti-Pakistan advertisements a direct attack on the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
“The New York campaign kicked-off with more than 100 taxis carrying adverts with the slogan, “#Free Balochistan from human rights abuses by Pakistan,” India’s ANI news agency reported citing a Baloch separatist group World Baloch Organisation (WBO).
“Balochistan was annexed by Pakistan against the people’s will in 1948 and has been under military occupation ever since, with mass kidnappings, torture and executions by the Pakistan army. Pakistan wants to keep this hidden. We are doing this campaign to expose these abuses,” claimed Bhawal Mengal, the group’s spokesperson.
“Thousands of Baloch people have been murdered or disappeared by Pakistani armed forces. The killings are happening right now, the American weapons that were given to Pakistan to use against the Taliban are being diverted and misused to attack the secular Baloch people, including F-16 fighter jets and Cobra attack helicopters,” he added.
Asserting that the campaign’s goal is to raise awareness among the Americans about the ethnic persecution and gross human rights violations in Balochistan and support the Baloch people’s quest for peace and freedom, Mengal urged the US to cut off all military aid to Pakistan and hold it accountable for its crimes in the region.