NEW DELHI: India has expressed condolences to the family of Baloch activist Karima Baloch, found dead under mysterious circumstances in Canada, even as the Toronto Police tweeted to say they did not suspect any foul play in her death.
The 37-year-old Baloch activist had gone missing on Sunday. Her body was found on Monday. On Wednesday, the Toronto Police tweeted, “The circumstances have been investigated and officers have determined this to be a non-criminal death and no foul play is suspected. We have updated the family.” According to officials, the police statement came before the post-mortem of the body.
Another Baloch activist, Fazila Baloch, said in a tweet: “Karima Baloch @KarimaBaloch had raised alarms about Pakistan Army officials settling in #Canada & questioned Canadian govt for allowing this. She feared that this will lead to attacks against Baloch in Canada,”. Karima is the second Baloch activist to be die in mysterious circumstances in foreign land this year. Earlier, the body of Baloch journalist Sajid Hussain Baloch was found outside Uppsala in Sweden, weeks after he went missing.
Karima Baloch was a former chairperson of the Baloch Students’ Organization-Azad (BSO-Azad), and included in BBC’s list of 100 inspirational and influential women for 2016, in which she was described as a campaigner “for independence for Balochistan from Pakistan”. She fled Pakistan in 2016, saying she feared for her life due to threats from the army and intelligence agencies and sought refuge in Canada.