Balochistan Killings: How Pakistani Forces Target Civilians Amid Rights Crisis

The latest incident comes against the backdrop of a continuing cycle of persecution marked by a surge in extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture across the province.

Paank, the Baloch National Movement's Human Rights Department, mentioned that on October 29, Hamza Baloch, a labourer by profession from the Sourgar Oranch area of the Khuzdar district of Balochistan, was forcibly disappeared by a Pakistan-backed death squad and handed over to the Pakistani army. After five days of illegal detention, the rights body said, his bullet-riddled body was discovered on Monday morning in the Jootar Koor Korak area of the Awaran district.

Additionally, Paank stated that Bahad Baloch, a resident of Kulaho village in Kech district, was brutally murdered by the members of the Pakistan-backed death squads and his lifeless body was shifted to the Turbat Civil Hospital on November 1.

"He was a breadwinner for his family by working in the Kuntani border area of Gwadar. He was en route to his home when the squad members, without considering his family status, robbed his bike and other stuff, and killed him. After murdering him, they put a rope around his neck, trying to portray it as a suicide, and kept the body in the nearby mosque, which was then shifted to the Turbat hospital," Paank detailed.

Expressing solidarity with the grieving family, the rights body demanded accountability for those responsible. It added that Pakistan, through its notorious security forces and the local militias under their payroll, is directly involved in heinous war crimes in Balochistan. Paank called on the global community to freeze funding of Pakistan, alleging that such funds are used to perpetuate war crimes in Balochistan.

Highlighting the atrocities in Balochistan, Pank also stated that a Baloch youth, Asif Hasil, a fisherman by profession, fell victim to the "heinous crime" of enforced disappearance from Pasni check-post in Gwadar district on Monday evening at the hands of personnel from Pakistan's notorious Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and intelligence agencies. Before his illegal detention, the security forces conducted an "illegal and unwarranted" raid on his home at midnight, during which they confiscated all mobile phones belonging to family members.

The rights body asserted that illegal detentions have traumatised the Baloch society at large, particularly, the involvement of the security forces has made it more concerning for the indigenous people.

Paank urged the international community to immediately intervene and make the Pakistani state accountable for its continuous human rights violations targeting Baloch civilians.

- IANS