Munir Mengal Accuses Pakistan of Systemic Profiling Against Baloch Youth

Mengal highlighted the August 2026 abduction of five students from their residence in Karachi as a primary example of the targeted exclusion facing Baloch youth in Punjab, Sindh, and Islamabad. He pointed to the 2022 Islamabad High Court proceedings, which previously acknowledged the severity of the profiling and ordered the creation of a commission to investigate the matter. Beyond Pakistan, Mengal argued that these patterns mirror broader regional trends of ethnic and caste-based discrimination. He specifically noted the plight of the Muhamasheen community in Yemen, who face systemic marginalization, and the ongoing persecution of Kurds, Ahwazi Arabs, and Azerbaijani Turks in Iran, where national security charges are frequently used to justify disproportionate sentencing and state executions.

Addressing the Council under Agenda Item 9, Mengal demanded that the international community prioritize the implementation of the Durban Declaration and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. He urged member states to dismantle structures of exclusion that rely on ethnic or caste hierarchies, asserting that the fundamental rights of these minority groups remain non-negotiable despite state-level attempts to normalize discriminatory practices.