Video of Mahrang Baloch speaking about Bangladesh goes viral, what she actually said
A video of a speech by Balochistan human rights activist Mahrang Baloch has recently spread on social media. In the video, she is heard saying, “This is not Bangla, this is Balochistan. We will never forget our martyrs.” Many are viewing this as criticism from the Baloch leader regarding Bangladeshi patriotism. In many cases, the statement is being circulated with reference to the destruction of various memorials of the Liberation War in Bangladesh following the July uprising of 2024. However, Dismislab’s analysis has found that the video is old and edited, and that in the original speech, Mahrang Baloch did not speak in any such context.
Mahrang Baloch is an organizer of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee. Since 2020, this organization has been carrying out peaceful protest programs demanding the protection of the basic rights of the Baloch people and an end to enforced disappearances. On March 22, 2025, she was arrested during a sit-in program in Quetta. On June 22, 2026, an anti-terrorism court in Quetta sentenced her to life imprisonment.
In the recently circulated video, Mahrang Baloch was heard saying, “Ye Bangal nahi hai, ye Balochistan hai. Hum kabhi nahi bhoolenge apne shaheedon ko.” (Meaning: “This is not Bangla, this is Balochistan. We will never forget our martyrs”). The 55-second video has been spread across more than a hundred Facebook posts (1, 2, 3) making the same claim; it has also spread on Instagram (1, 2, 3) and on X.
A user, posting Baloch’s statement, wrote, “Baloch leader Mahrang Baloch is taking a jab at Bangali patriotism”. Several Instagram accounts and around a dozen Facebook accounts have posted the video, saying, “A woman from Balochistan has shamed Bangladesh.”
Some have interpreted this statement by Mahrang Baloch as a message in the context of the various events surrounding the Liberation War and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Bangladesh following the July mass uprising of 2024. Referring to the self-sacrifice of Bangalis at the hands of Pakistani forces and their collaborators during the 1971 Liberation War that led to Bangladesh’s independence, one person wrote, “Unfortunately, every country in the world knows about the ungrateful people of Bangladesh post August 5, 2024. That is why, at a rally for the liberation of millions of people of Balochistan, the beloved leader of Balochistan, Mahrang Baloch, declared in a resounding voice — ‘we will never forget our martyrs.’” Meanwhile, someone else, posting the video, said, “Bangalis should die”.
Conducting a reverse image search using keyframes, the original video was found on the verified Facebook page of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee. In the video posted on May 11, 2025, the clothing of Mahrang Baloch, founder and leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, as well as the location, match those seen in the video currently being circulated.
The translation of what she is heard saying in Urdu in that video is as follows, “They come to kill us every day. Every day they strike while hiding like jackals. Now you cannot frighten us. Will you drop bodies? Drop them, how many more bodies will you drop? Will we become weak if bodies fall? Come on, who will you kill? The more you kill, the more of us will come out in greater numbers. And every generation of ours will choose only the path of resistance against you. Now the Baloch people have awakened. And this is not Bangla, this is Balochistan. We will never forget our martyrs. We are the inheritors of those mass graves. The graves of the Baloch whom you discard — the graves of the Baloch lineage, the graves of the Baloch nation. The Baloch are the inheritors of their martyrs! The Baloch will never forget their martyrs! And they will never let you forget either!”
This is the very video that has recently been circulating in the post-2024-mass-uprising context in Bangladesh. However, Dismislab noticed several cuts in the 55-second video circulating on social media. “Now the Baloch people have awakened. And this is not Bangla, this is Balochistan.” The video is seen to be cut 26 seconds before and 34 seconds after this portion of the speech. The portions “This is not Bangla, this is Balochistan” and “We will never forget our martyrs” were cut from two different points in the speech and joined together to create this 55-second video.
Analysis of the original video on the Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s YouTube page shows that in this speech, Mahrang Baloch said nothing about Bangalis or Bangladeshis forgetting their martyrs. In this roughly 44-and-a-half-minute speech, she says, “This is not Bangla, this is Balochistan,” at 16 minutes 32 seconds, while at 42 minutes 12 seconds she says, “We will never forget our martyrs.” The viral video was created by cutting these two different portions of the speech and splicing them together with another portion.
After the 10-minute mark of the full speech, she compares the Pakistani forces’ attack during the events of Bangladesh’s Language Movement to the humiliation of Baloch women. Raising the issue of the torture inflicted on Bangali women during Bangladesh’s Liberation War, she says indicating the Pakistani forces, “Look at this nation, this wretched nation is the same one that violated the honor of Bangali women. They will not forgive us, they will not show us mercy; they can never show us mercy.”
In the context of the torture inflicted on the Baloch people by the Pakistani forces, she recalls the defeat of this force in 1971, saying, “This is the same force whose pants the Bangalis pulled down.” Calling on the Baloch to unite, after the 15-minute mark she says, “Now every Baloch must fall into ranks anew (unite).”
Then, from 16 minutes 24 seconds, she warns the rulers of Pakistan, saying, “This is not 1948, this is 2023! And this is not Bangla, this is Balochistan!” A portion of the viral video was taken from this point.
At 35 minutes 12 seconds of the speech, she raises the subject of Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 as a warning. At this point, she mentions an alleged statement by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She says, “When Bangladesh became independent as a result of Pakistan’s oppression, injustice, and brutality, nations across the world sent their mobarakbad (congratulations) to its leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, saying — ‘Mujibur Rahman, congratulations on having gained independence from a fascist power like Pakistan.’ Mujibur Rahman then said, ‘We have indeed gained independence, but now not a single virgin girl remains in Bangladesh.'”
Describing this situation, she warned the Baloch people. While declaring “Baloch Genocide Day” toward the end of her speech, she says, “We will remember those people whom you killed in your torture cells, who, at the moment of their martyrdom, dreamed of this revolution that stands before me today. We will keep reminding you of how many of our generations you have blown away with your cannons.” At this point, she also says, “We will keep reminding you that we will never forget our martyrs.” In the viral video, this separate portion of the speech has been spliced together with another portion.
Multiple news media reports (1, 2) reveal that, led by 30-year-old Dr Mahrang Baloch, Baloch activists marched 1,600 kilometers on foot from Turbat district and reached Islamabad on December 22, 2023. This long march was held in connection with the killing of a 24-year-old young man, Balaach Baloch, in the custody of the provincial Counter-Terrorism Department in November of that year. Following the march, they held a month-long sit-in strike in the capital and returned to this southwestern province. Following the sit-in, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee called a conference at Sawani Stadium in Quetta. The organization’s leader, Mahrang Baloch, delivered a speech at this conference on January 27, 2024.
