Rights violations, mass killings in Balochistan discussed at UNHRC in Geneva

Geneva (Switzerland), Mar.12 (ANI): Human rights activists, political leaders, Baloch nationalists and students from various parts of the world gathered in Geneva on March 10 to raise the issue of human rights violations in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan.

The event titled “Human Rights, Regional Security and Perspectives for Balochistan and Pakistan Post-2014? was held at Palace of Nations, Geneva on the sidelines of the 110th session of the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Herald Exclusive: Nuclear hazards

Abandoned uranium sites lie beaneath a lake in Baghalchur, home to over 5,000 residents 40 kilometres north-west of Dera Ghazi Khan town. — Photo by Moosa Kaleem

by Moosa Kaleem

From a distance, the place looks like a plantation. Up close, it is a rectangular plot of land, spread over rolling hillocks as far as the eye can see, dotted with low-slung acacia trees and bound by a fence of barbed wire. Beneath its clay surface are hidden hundreds of kilogrammes of what local residents say is nuclear waste. Right behind this ‘nuclear landfill’ is a sprawling compound, consisting of many abandoned military-style residential barracks, a functioning primary school for boys and a mosque. The barracks, all locked and sealed, contain hundreds of barrels of nuclear waste, claim residents of the area. Less than one kilometre to the south of these two sites are a few abandoned uranium mines, now submerged under rainwater. The barracks and the compound once served as residences for officials – and their families – who supervised uranium mining. According to claims by the locals, more nuclear waste is buried deep in the abandoned mines.