National News Desk
Islamabad: Baloch activist Karima Baloch, who left Pakistan in 2016 to take refuge in Canada, was found dead at Harbourfront in Canada.
According to news accounts, local sources confirmed that the police discovered her body drowned on an island near Toronto’s lakeshore. Her husband, Hammal Haider, and her brother, identified her body with the police.
Karima, with the aid of a few friends and Baloch activists, had fled from Balochistan when her life was in danger.
Baloch had been a stern critic of pakistan’s law enforcement agencies and got settled in Canada. She has been one of the most vocal human rights activist.
Forty days of mourning for Karima Baloch have been declared by the Baloch National Movement.
In 2016, Baloch was named one of the 100 Most Influential Women by BBC.
Media reports quoted a spokesperson for the Toronto Police as saying that authorities were investigating the death as “non-criminal”.
“On Monday, December 21, 2020, a 37-year-old woman was located deceased. It is currently being investigated as a non-criminal death and there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances,” Caroline de Kloet, Toronto Police’s media relations officer, told dawn in an email response.
Baloch was critical of the Pakistani establishment and had been living in Canada since 2016, where she had been granted asylum. A close friend of hers told the BBC she was receiving threats while in Canada.
