Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Dr Mahrang Baloch has been featured in Time magazine’s “2024 Time100 Next” list for her peaceful advocacy of Baloch rights, the magazine announced on Wednesday.
The list highlights 100 young individuals “making an impact early in life,” including artists, athletes, and activists.
Dr Mahrang was recognised for her peaceful advocacy and her December 2023 march to Islamabad, where she led hundreds of women demanding justice for their missing husbands, sons, and brothers.
After the announcement, Dr Mahrang expressed her gratitude in a Facebook post, writing, “I am deeply honored and delighted to be named among the top 100 emerging leaders of the world by TIME.”
She dedicated the recognition to all Baloch women human rights defenders and the families of victims of enforced disappearances.
Mahrang gained prominence when she began leading protests after her father, Ghaffar Longove, disappeared in December 2009 outside a hospital in Karachi.
At the time, she was still in primary school. As the eldest of six siblings, Mahrang burned her schoolbooks in front of the Quetta Press Club as a form of protest, demanding her father’s return. In 2011, her father’s mutilated body was found.
In December 2023, Dr Mahrang helped organise a major march and sit-in in Islamabad to protest enforced disappearances.
Other notable figures on the list include Bangladeshi student leader Nahid Islam and Gazan food blogger Hamada Shaqoura.
Shaqoura, previously a restaurant owner in Gaza, gained recognition as a “wartime food blogger.” According to the magazine, he shares recipes using ingredients from aid packages and documents his efforts in cooking and distributing meals in the enclave.
Nahid led student protests in Bangladesh, which ultimately led to the removal and exile of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He is now serving as a minister in the interim government headed by Dr Muhammad Yunus.
