Toronto Police: Pakistani Dissident Death Not Suspicious
By Rob Gillies
Toronto: Police in Toronto said Tuesday they are not treating the death of a prominent Pakistani dissident as suspicious.
Authorities said the body of 37-year-old Karima Mehrab was found on Monday near Toronto's downtown waterfront, a day after she had been reported missing.
“It is currently being investigated as a non-criminal death and there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances,” Toronto police spokeswoman Caroline de Kloet said.
Mehrab, also known as Karima Baloch, was granted asylum in Canada in 2016.
Police said she was known to frequent Toronto’s waterfront and island areas.
Mehrab was a vocal critic of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and had campaigned for those people who go missing in Pakistan. Her death alarmed human rights activists
“The death of activist #KarimaBaloch in Toronto, Canada is deeply shocking and must be immediately and effectively investigated. The perpetrators must be brought to justice without recourse to the death penalty,” Amnesty International South Asia said in a tweet.
In 2016, Ms Baloch was named in the BBC's annual list of 100 inspirational and influential women for her work as a campaigner. She left Pakistan in 2015, after terrorism charges were levelled against her.
She continued to campaign in exile for the rights of people in Balochistan, both on social media and in person. And the threats followed her, according to Lateef Johar Baloch, a close friend and fellow activist who also lives in Toronto.
He told the BBC that Ms Baloch had recently received anonymous threats warning someone would send her a "Christmas gift" and "teach her a lesson".
Ms Baloch's sister told the BBC Urdu service on Tuesday that her death was "not only a tragedy for the family, but also for the Baloch national movement".
"She didn't go abroad because she wanted to, but because... open activism in Pakistan had become impossible," Mahganj Baloch said.
Several members of Ms Baloch's extended family had been linked to the Baloch resistance movement over the years, and two of her uncles - a brother of her mother and a brother of her father - had gone missing. Their dead bodies were later found.
She joined the BSO in 2006, serving in several different positions in the following years. The group was officially banned by the government in 2013, but its existence continued and Ms Baloch became chairperson in 2015.
Only a few months later, she went into exile after terrorism charges were filed against her. In Toronto, she married a fellow activist, Hamal Baloch, and remained active both on social media and in human rights activities in Canada and Europe.
Reacting to the news of Ms Baloch's death, the Balochistan National Movement (BNM) announced a 40-day mourning period.
Earlier this year, another former Baloch resident living in exile, journalist Sajid Hussain Baloch, went missing and was later found dead. Mr Baloch, who was related to Ms Baloch, was living in Sweden. Swedish police ruled out any "visible wrongdoing" and the cause of death was ruled to be drowning.
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