Pakistan’s Mahrang Baloch has risen to become the young face of a decades-old movement against rights abuses since she discovered her father’s tortured body when she was a teenager.The 32-year-old, who was arrested last month, is now one of the country’s most recognisable protest leaders representing the ethnic Baloch minority. “Our father made the decision for us when he dedicated himself to Baloch rights. And after him, we all embraced his philosophy and committed ourselves to this struggle,” Mahrang wrote to her family from the cell where she is being held in the provincial capital Quetta.She was charged in March with terrorism, sedition and murder, according to the police charge sheet seen by AFP.Balochistan province, a sparsely populated, rugged region that borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the poorest in the country despite being rich in untapped hydrocarbons and minerals.Security forces are fighting a decades-long insurgency by Baloch separatist militants, led by the Balochistan Liberation Army, which accuses authorities and outsiders, including Chinese investors, of exploiting the region.Rights groups say the violence has been countered with a severe crackdown by authorities that has swept up innocent people. According to Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, an NGO, 18,000 people have disappeared in the province since 2000, figures disputed by the authorities.Mahrang founded the Baloch Unity Committee (BYC) after her brother disappeared for four months in 2018 to mobilise the relatives of victims of alleged extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and other arbitrary arrests.”Mahrang is the child of resistance against brutal state oppression,” former senator Afrasiab Khattak told AFP.A spokesperson for the Balochistan government told AFP that “activists are making claims without any grounds” about rights abuses and enforced disappearances.-‘Mahrang replaced our father’ -Mahrang first began campaigning after the disappearance of her father, defying tribal tradition in a region where less than one in three women can read and write to leave home and demand answers from the authorities.”We could see her blocking the roads crying and pleading for her father, even when there was a police vehicle coming, she was still standing bravely in front of every obstacle,” said Naseem Baloch, president of the Baloch National Movement, who has been in exile in Europe since 2011.The bullet-riddled body of Mahrang’s father was finally identified one July night in 2011, scarred by torture and wearing the same clothes he was kidnapped in.”My brother fainted when he saw him,” her 26-year-old sister Nadia told AFP.”Mahrang then replaced our father: she helped our mother feed us with her medical scholarships and continued her fight for the Baluchi cause.”Not only did she carry on the struggle, she radically changed the Baloch movement, according to her classmates.”Before, everyone was afraid to speak to the media, but Mahrang led the way and succeeded in having her brother released, so now families dare to denounce these kidnappings,” Naseem Baloch said.Above all, Mahrang and Nadia Baloch did not hesitate to voice their accusations that the security services were behind her brother’s kidnapping.Mahrang broke taboos as a student, too. She led protests against her Quetta university after staff were caught secretly filming women on campus to blackmail them.- International recognition -With a father killed, a brother kidnapped and a childhood spent in poverty, Mahrang’s story resonates with families in rural Balochistan.”People identify with Mahrang because she carries their pain,” her sister said.Mohammad Gul, a 55-year-old relative, said: “Baloch people see her as a ray of hope — a true leader challenging those who are responsible.”Baloch armed groups demand independence, sometimes with spectacular attacks such as a deadly train hostage-taking in March, but the BYC advocates non-violence and a negotiated solution within the framework of the federal state.Mahrang gained international attention after leading a “Long Baloch March” of more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) from Balochistan to the national capital Islamabad to denounce the alleged extrajudicial execution of a young Baloch man. Her activism earned her a place among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Promising People of 2024 — an award she was unable to receive because authorities prevented her from leaving the country.Her marches are attended by thousands, almost exclusively women, who stage days-long sit-ins. “They are less likely to be beaten, arrested, or kidnapped,” explained Ayesha Siddiqa, a political scientist now based in London.However, many women protesters have been imprisoned in recent weeks.Mahrang has already “prepared the family” to continue the fight, said her sister Nadia.”Perhaps one day, she will be kidnapped or killed,” she said. 

Time for the daily staff meeting at Sri Lanka’s Hotel Amba Yaalu where woman manager Jeewanthi Adhikari jokes: “This won’t look very serious, there are only girls around the table.”The hotel, on the shores of Lake Kandalama in the green hills of central Sri Lanka, opened in January with a unique selling point — its staff are exclusively women.It is a first in the country, designed to promote women in a tourism sector where men hold up to 90 percent of hotel jobs.”The chairman wanted to start a new hotel with a new concept,” said Adhikari.She explained how the idea sprouted from twin blows that hammered the island’s tourism industry — first Covid-19, then the 2022 financial crisis and subsequent political unrest that toppled the president.”It has been really a bad time,” the 42-year-old said, noting that when there were employment vacancies, only men got the job. “We wanted to give opportunity and attract more women.”Owner Chandra Wickramasinghe, president of the Thema Collection group which runs 14 hotels, said he wanted to showcase what women can do if given the chance.”Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka in the hotels, there is no gender equality,” he said.The blame rests on a mix of factors — lack of training, a culture where women are seen first and foremost as mothers, and very low wages which lead to the perception that women may as well stay at home.”In our men’s society, when it comes to women working in hotels, it’s one nice girl in the reception and housekeepers to clean,” he said. “I wanted to go a little bit further.”- ‘Skills and courage’ -For the 33 rooms of the Amba Yaalu  — meaning “best friend” in the island’s Sinhala language — a team of 75 women handle every task, including those traditionally seen as for men.They are enthusiastic, like maintenance worker Hansika Rajapaksa.”People think it’s difficult for women to be involved in maintenance,” the 28-year-old said.”But after coming here and undergoing training, we also can carry out the work that is expected of us without any difficulty”. Meanwhile, Dilhani, who gave only her first name, feels confident in her role as a security officer after 15 years in the army. “I have experienced war… I have manned roadblocks,” she said. “With that experience, it is very easy to do our work here.”Others want to set an example.”This a good opportunity for women to demonstrate their talents, to showcase our skills and courage to the new generations”, said 23-year-old chef Upeka Ekanayake.Old habits were initially hard to break, manager Adhikari said.”Our experienced staff were used to working around male colleagues,” she said. “Automatically, they waited for someone else to do things, because that is how they had been trained.”But the owner said he shrugged off the doubts of colleagues.”Some people didn’t believe in it,” said owner Wickramasinghe, who dismissed the misogynists who scoffed that an all-women team would just “start gossiping”.The hotel has been welcomed as an “excellent initiative” by Nalin Jayasundera, president of the association of tour operators.”We want to encourage even more women to join the tourism industry,” he said, adding it made a “very good impression on our customers”.Clients have taken notice.”I felt like I could speak up and answer questions ahead of my partner without them looking to him for confirmation,” one Canadian tourist wrote in a review on a booking website. – ‘Power of a woman’ -Women’s rights activist Nimalka Fernando said the initiative was “really path-breaking for Sri Lankan society”.While she noted Sri Lanka was the first nation to elect a woman as prime minister — Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1960 — tradition, culture and the labour market continue to block women’s rights.She points out that women dominate the sectors that provide the country with its main sources of income: textiles, tea and foreign remittances. “Women are treated as an exploitable commodity,” she said. “The important thing now is to give dignity to female labour.”The Amba Yaalu is only the first step, acknowledges its manager, but it is making a change.”We have single mothers and mothers with two or three kids,” Adhikari said. “Here, they don’t have to suppress what they want to do in their life.”Wickramasinghe sees it as a way to highlight the lesson he learned as a boy.”I’m inspired by my mother… she became a single parent with eight children,” he said.”She was working in a hospital at the same time and she managed very well. So I realised the power of a woman… that they can do wonders.”