Mahrang Baloch’s campaign for international recognition, including a push for the Nobel Peace Prize, is being advanced through Terrorists sympathizer and spokes person Kiyaa Baloch, who works with NGOs where Jørgen Watne Frydnes, a sitting member of the Nobel Committee, serves as director at Pen Norway where Kiyaa is the communication officer.
In May last year, Kiyaa Baloch invited Mahrang to Oslo, where she met directly with Frydnes. With that link now established and the cover exposed, Kiyaa has shifted to new methods of projection. Most recently, he placed Mahrang’s picture at an Amnesty Norway and Mental Health and Human Rights Info (HHRI) event in Oslo. While the event allows anyone to display a portrait, Kiyaa used the opportunity to try to further build Mahrang’s international profile.
The Nobel Peace Prize lobbying campaign is at the center of these moves. Kiyaa Baloch, through his association with Frydnes and NGOs connected to PEN Norway, has been pushing Mahrang’s case for the nomination. Now that the connection has been exposed, he is relying on symbolic acts such as the Oslo portrait display to continue presenting her abroad as a rights activist.
The picture presented internationally differs sharply from the ground reality. Mahrang Baloch is not a scientist and has no contributions in STEM fields. She does not represent a mass movement, nor does she speak for the people of Balochistan. Her ambitions are political, and she is free to contest elections openly if she wishes. What she seeks is international projection through lobbying.
Her activities have long included providing cannon powder to the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a US-designated terrorist organization, by inciting young people to join militancy. That influence has spread into universities and colleges. She openly supports banned organizations and describes it as activism. Her imprisonment is not for rights work but for non-bailable offences, including leading an attack on hospital staff and attempting to take away the bodies of militants killed in the Jaffar Express massacre. The label of “Baloch rights activist” is self-proclaimed and repeated by sympathizers of banned outfits.
Kiyaa Baloch has played a central role throughout this process. His social media accounts carry frequent statements favorable to banned groups, functioning as a spokesperson for them. His role in arranging Mahrang’s Oslo meeting with Frydnes, and now his use of international events to project her image, underlines his position as the key figure behind her Nobel lobbying campaign.
