Prominent rights activist killed shortly after hosting a talk on Balochistan at her Karachi cafe

Karachi, PAKISTAN – Sabeen Mahmud, a prominent Pakistani social and human rights activist, has been shot dead, shortly after hosting an event on Balochistan’s “disappeared people”, in the southern city of Karachi, officials have told Al Jazeera.

Mahmud, 40, was the director of T2F [The Second Floor], a café and arts space that has been a mainstay of Karachi’s activists since it opened its doors in 2007. She was one of the country’s most outspoken human rights advocates.

Mahmud was shot four times at close range, with bullets going through her shoulder, chest and abdomen, police told Al Jazeera. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the National Medical Centre hospital at 9.40pm.

Just a few hours earlier, at 6.30pm, Mahmud had been present at the opening of a discussion called “Unsilencing Balochistan,” hosted at T2F, where prominent Baloch rights activists Mama Qadeer, Farzana Majeed and Muhammad Ali Talpur had been speaking.

Qadeer and Majeed have long championed the cause of Balochistan’s “disappeared,” a term used to describe people who have been abducted in Balochistan, with their bodies often found years later. The Voice of Baloch Missing Persons organisation, which both activists belong to, says that more than 2,825 people have “disappeared” in this way since 2005.

They allege the disappearances, which are mostly of Baloch rights activists and students, have been carried out by the Pakistani government and its powerful ISI intelligence agency, a charge the agency denies.

Just over a fortnight ago, a similar talk with the same speakers at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), was cancelled at the last minute “on orders from the government”, according to a LUMS statement.

“Sabeen got in touch with me on Tuesday to ask for advice about whether she should go ahead with the event. She was having doubts, and the person who had initially agreed to moderate the discussion had backed out,” a friend of Mahmud’s told Al Jazeera following the shooting. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to concerns for his own safety.

“We discussed the possible blowback that she and T2F could potentially get in response to holding the event, but I never imagined it would be as brutal and blatant as this.”

Mahmud had been on her way from the event, along with her mother, when her car came under fire from unidentified gunmen, according to police.

Her mother was also shot twice, but was undergoing treatment at hospital and was out of immediate danger, hospitals officials said.

“We condemn this attack, we think that those who have attacked her should be caught and tried for the crimes,” said Nasrullah Baloch, the chairman of the Voice of Missing Baloch rights organisation.

“Whenever voices are raised against rights abuses in Balochistan, the government tries to suppress them. Suppressing voices does not solve the issue, indeed it only makes us the voices become louder.”

Source: Al Jazeera

Mama Qadeer condemns the attack

Talking to The Express Tribune, Mama Qadeer condemned the attack and that Sabeen and her mother departed from the venue shortly after the event had ended.

“The programme went really well and the response was great. Once the event ended, we stayed back at the venue for a bit. Sabeen then told us that she was going to leave since her house was far,” said Qadeer.

“Shortly after Sabeen left, we heard gunshots,” he added.

Qadeer said the event was initially supposed to be held on April 21 at a different location, but the venue was later changed after the organisers started receiving threats.

Expressing grief over the incident, Qadeer said, “They don’t let me leave Pakistan, they don’t let me speak at LUMS, they don’t let me speak in Karachi. Where should we go to speak about our rights, where should we raise our voices.”

Baloch national leader Hyrbyair Marri offers condolences to Sabeen’s family

We offer our deepest condolences to the family of Sabeen Mahmud who was shot dead on Friday evening in Karachi after organising talk at T2F titled ‘Unsilencing Balochistan’ to discuss the human rights violations against Baloch people and media’s silence on Balochistan issue.

Her unprovoked murder shows that anyone who raises their voice against Pakistan’s genocidal policies in Balochistan, will be silenced by the barbaric military and intelligence agencies of the state or their proxies.