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She could have ended up as the Joan of Arc of Balochistan, a territory larger than Poland that sits at the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, leading to the Persian Gulf.
It’s people say they’re occupied by Pakistan.
But as fate would have it, Karima Baloch, 32, said she escaped a Pakistani military attack on the town of Tump in Balochistan, getting away in the darkness of night as mortar shells rained on her home.
Karima evaded arrest and stayed underground for nearly a year before landing in Toronto on Nov. 27, where she’s applied for refugee status.
For years, I had seen videos of her leading large processions and speaking at protests, but never her face.
To evade arrest, “Banuk Karima” — as her supporters call her — would wear a niqab, the Islamic face mask, to get lost in the crowd as police would wade in to try to arrest her.
The day Karima landed in Toronto, the first thing she did was rip the niqab off her face.
“I knew I was safe and that I did not have to hide from anyone in Canada,” she told me in an interview.
mo
Refugee arrives in T.O., takes off niqab: 'I knew I was safe' | Fatah | Toronto
She could have ended up as the Joan of Arc of Balochistan, a territory larger than Poland that sits at the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, leading to the Persian Gulf.
It’s people say they’re occupied by Pakistan.
But as fate would have it, Karima Baloch, 32, said she escaped a Pakistani military attack on the town of Tump in Balochistan, getting away in the darkness of night as mortar shells rained on her home.
Karima evaded arrest and stayed underground for nearly a year before landing in Toronto on Nov. 27, where she’s applied for refugee status.
For years, I had seen videos of her leading large processions and speaking at protests, but never her face.
To evade arrest, “Banuk Karima” — as her supporters call her — would wear a niqab, the Islamic face mask, to get lost in the crowd as police would wade in to try to arrest her.
The day Karima landed in Toronto, the first thing she did was rip the niqab off her face.
“I knew I was safe and that I did not have to hide from anyone in Canada,” she told me in an interview.
mo
Refugee arrives in T.O., takes off niqab: 'I knew I was safe' | Fatah | Toronto
