#Baloch genocide

[thescaredsapphic]

Resource list for countries in need

[will80sbyers]

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised but there are so many things like this happening around the world and our western media just straight up completely ignores it I'm???

Link

[sozword]

"Our three-month-old children were killed by your bombing, and you ask us why we protest? Our history is one of sacrifices; yours is one of betrayal. We will continue resisting"

[the-eyespy]

🇵🇰 PTI rally targeted in Sibi, Balochistan. The Pakistani Army appears to be focusing on Imran Khan's party across various regions.

[strawberryandvanillaa]

Baloch Activist Mahrang Baloch Seeks Global Support Against Baloch Genocide

[luminalunii97]

A little info on Moharebeh (waging war against God accusation) and official executions for non-Iranian

Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard were first and second official executions. It means that the regime looked in the eyes of this nation and said "we're going to hang them because they're protesters. If you don't quit you'll be next." But unofficial executions were happening before that. In the past three months 176 Baluch people have been executed and according to Baloch ethnic activists more than 140 of them were protesters. But most of these people don't have identity papers (state racism and neglect) therefore they're not official citizens of this country but they're still our people. That's how the regime can get away with their murder. Along with Baloch people, kurd people have been getting executed with no explanations in the past three months. But since the regime hasn't given an official statement on the reason they've been hanged, we can't get international organizations to condemn them. My only hope is the United Nations commission of inquiry to find the truth in these state genocides.

I wrote before that Khamenei knows himself as God that's why whoever opposes him will be executed with war against God accusation. This delusion comes from their distortion of religious beliefs. There's a verse in Quran that states that whoever wages war against God and Islam prophet, who is Allah's representative on earth, should be severely punished. The original verse is in reference to foreign non-Muslim enemies attacking Muslims. Corruption on earth accusation is based on the same Quran verse and is normally paired with Moharebeh. It refers to destroying muslim properties and causing chaos in Muslim lands and in some cases spreading fear or sins among Muslims. Now according to shia Muslim beliefs the prophet Muhammad wasn't the only representative of God on earth for muslims and after his death this duty was put on his son-in-law then his grandchildren and the children of his grandchildren. We call them Imams. After the last Imam, the 12th one, disappeared to be saved and come back to save the world one day (sort of similar to the Jesus Christ savior story), the duty of representing God on earth was put on the head Muslim clerics. The Islamic Republic took this belief to a new level by calling Khomeini an Imam and then giving him the title of "Leader of All Muslims Around The World" . Both titles were inherited by Khamenei. That's why he literally believes that he's god's voice on earth! And he refers to that Quran verse to execute his oppositions. This is also why you should never let clerics take the power seats. Political secularism is the tool to prevent things like this to happen.

[shut-up-rabert]

2/ booked under doesn't allow police to keep them over 60 days. another thing about law, there's a law in pakistan that allows the kin of a murdered person to "forgive" the victim's murderer via diyat. Afghanistan's spy chief and former vp amrullah saleh's directly said that pakistan was responsible for funding the taliban and bringing them to power and who can forget the bangladeshi genocide. pakistan's history textbooks play down the atrocities so much it's insane

Pakistan’s history books tell people that Hindus persecuted muslims, that Partition happened due to India’s brutality (Notice how our books have actual events listed which can be google checked while theirs are all in all “source: bro, trust me”?)like we didn’t try to save your ass during amritsar masssacre, that Jinnah, the guy who divided India just to feel important was a saint. those books are a shitfest of propaganda with a dash of victim card.

As of murder forgiving, dear God. Imagine letting a murderer free, only for him to make someone else’s family go through what you went through. Kya muh dikhaoge apni mari aulad aur dusre victim ke gharwalo ko? Honestly, I feel like this system itself explains ki why these people are funding taliban and why their leaders have such beautiful relations with this shithole of a “government” (read: militant’s rule)

Pilla hai ye desh, China ka, (usse pehle america ka) Taliban ka, aur har muslim country ka. These guys just want to establish themselves as a noticeable Islamic nation ,and their want for power has them waging their tails to whatever powerful country will help them feel more important than they are. Fuck, they’ll go as far as nesting Islamic terrorists (even international ones like Bin Laden) that orchestrate attacks on India (even using our own territories as bases, the fucking gal) because they think that’ll make them important on basis of religion atleast and get other Islamic countries to want to have relations with them (The actual face of Sunni Islam, Saudi, has a zero tolerance policy for terrorists. see the difference?) but literally no country stands with them. Rather, the karma has come to bite them back in the butt with Baloch protest, Taliban hold on western pak, etc. etc.

Desperation ka dusra naam Pakistan

[samuelcarveraccidentman]

IT HAS FOR so long been a country of such unmet potential that the scale of Pakistan’s dereliction towards its people is easily forgotten. Yet on every measure of progress, Pakistanis fare atrociously. More than 20m children are deprived of school. Less than 30% of women are employed. Exports have grown at a fifth of the rate in Bangladesh and India over the past 20 years. And now the ambitions of the new government under Imran Khan, who at least acknowledges his country’s problems (see Briefing), are thwarted by a balance-of-payments crisis. If Mr Khan gets an IMF bail-out, it will be Pakistan’s 22nd. The persistence of poverty and maladministration, and the instability they foster, is a disaster for the world’s sixth-most-populous country. Thanks to its nuclear weapons and plentiful religious zealots, it poses a danger for the world, too.

Many, including Mr Khan, blame venal politicians for Pakistan’s problems. Others argue that Pakistan sits in a uniquely hostile part of the world, between war-torn Afghanistan and implacable India. Both these woes are used to justify the power of the armed forces. Yet the army’s pre-eminence is precisely what lies at the heart of Pakistan’s troubles. The army lords it over civilian politicians. Last year it helped cast out the previous prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and engineer Mr Khan’s rise (as it once did Mr Sharif’s).



Since the founding of Pakistan in 1947, the army has not just defended state ideology but defined it, in two destructive ways. The country exists to safeguard Islam, not a tolerant, prosperous citizenry. And the army, believing the country to be surrounded by enemies, promotes a doctrine of persecution and paranoia.

The effects are dire. Religiosity has bred an extremism that at times has looked like tearing Pakistan apart. The state backed those who took up arms in the name of Islam. Although they initially waged war on Pakistan’s perceived enemies, before long they began to wreak havoc at home. Some 60,000 Pakistanis have died at the hands of militants, most of whom come under the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The army at last moved against them following an appalling school massacre in 2014. Yet even today it shelters violent groups it finds useful. Some leaders of the Afghan Taliban reside in Quetta. The presumed instigator of a series of attacks in Mumbai in 2008, which killed 174, remains a free man.

Melding religion and state has other costs, including the harsh suppression of local identities—hence long-running insurgencies in Baloch and Pushtun areas. Religious minorities, such as the Ahmadis, are cruelly persecuted. As for the paranoia, the army is no more the state’s glorious guardian than India is the implacable foe. Of the four wars between the two countries, all of which Pakistan lost, India launched only one, in 1971—to put an end to the genocide Pakistan was unleashing in what became Bangladesh. Even if politicking before a coming general election obscures it, development interests India more than picking fights.

The paranoid doctrine helps the armed forces commandeer resources. More money goes to them than on development. Worse, it has bred a habit of geopolitical blackmail: help us financially or we might add to your perils in a very dangerous part of the world. This is at the root of Pakistan’s addiction to aid, despite its prickly nationalism. The latest iteration of this is China’s $60bn investment in roads, railways, power plants and ports, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The fantasy that, without other transformations, prosperity can be brought in from outside is underscored by CPEC’s transport links. Without an opening to India, they will never fulfil their potential. But the army blocks any rapprochement.

Mr Khan’s government can do much to improve things. It should increase its tax take by clamping down on evasion, give independence to the monetary authority and unify the official and black-market exchange rates. Above all, it should seek to boost competitiveness and integrate Pakistan’s economy with the world’s. All that can raise growth.

Yet the challenge is so much greater. By mid-century, Pakistan’s population will have increased by half. Only sizzling rates of economic growth can guarantee Pakistanis a decent life, and that demands profound change in how the economy works, people are taught and welfare is conceived. Failing so many, in contrast, really will be felt beyond the country’s borders.

Transformation depends on Pakistan doing away with the state’s twin props of religion and paranoia—and with them the army’s power. Mr Khan is not obviously the catalyst for radical change. But he must recognise the problem. He has made a start by standing up to demagogues baying for the death of Asia Bibi, a Christian labourer falsely accused of blasphemy.

However, wholesale reform is beyond the reach of any one individual, including the prime minister. Many politicians, businesspeople, intellectuals, journalists and even whisky-swilling generals would far rather a more secular Pakistan. They should speak out. Yes, for some there are risks, not least to their lives or liberty. But for most—especially if they act together—the elites have nothing to lose but their hypocrisy

[newsdaliy]

Missing Baloch people are being killed in the custody of Pakistani security forces

Missing Baloch people are being killed in the custody of Pakistani security forces

Islamabad: A human rights activist has said that the missing Baloch people are being hanged in the custody of Pakistani security forces. Baloch human rights activist Mama Qadeer Baloch said in a statement that Pakistani intelligence agencies and security forces were directly involved in the forced disappearances and genocide of Baloch people. “We have strong evidence to substantiate our claims,”…

[thomasthetankieengine]

This is yet another great example of your love of twisting yourself into ridiculous logical contortions rather than admit you might have been wrong. Did you take lessons on dancing the sidestep from the governor of Texas, by any chance? (<- is joke)

One, the Talmud is not part of the Hebrew Bible and thus is not considered biblical literature. Religious literature =/= biblical literature.

Two, few would describe the Talmud's description of the Bar Kokhba revolt and its aftermath as "mythology".

Furthermore, a careful reading of what I said did not actually "invoke biblical mythology and history to justify ethnic cleansing." The topic at hand was a post of yours that saying it was insanity for European Jews to claim ties to the Levant after two thousand years in Europe .... while ignoring that most Jews had had little choice about ending up in Europe and that, during those two thousand years, rigid religious laws had kept European Jews separate from Christians. I said nothing at all about whether or not that justified even the founding of Israel, let alone all of its misdeeds.

That is because I'm of two minds about that issue. Unlike you, I recognize that history seldom has any easy answers and I prefer to admit that sometimes there are no obvious solutions to complex problems.

And of course you have nothing to say about my detailed breakdown of the atrocities perpetuated by the governments of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Azerbaijan in the name of creating and preserving their nation-states, so you just accuse me of being racist and supporting colonial domination. Typical. 🙄

Unlike you, I recognize that Israel is far from unique. While you're clearly a lost cause, it absolutely should be understood that nearly ever single nation that currently exists has, at minimum, engaged in cultural genocide in order to make their population fit the mold of the nation-state.

Many more have gone past that to the point of engaging in deportations and genocidal massacres and, contrary to what you seem to think, this is not a sole feature of states that are apparently guided by Western European imperialism. It also includes Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Darfur, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Laos, Macedonia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Syria, East Timor, Turkey, and Uzbekistan ... which is why I'VE concluded that the problem is the idea of the nation-state itself, while you seem content that to only say there's a problem when you've concluded that a place is governed by a "Western imperial ideology."

It's very cool that you believe the Palestinians deserve to be free from colonial domination and exploitation. I actually believe the same. Unlike you, though, I believe the Kurds, Baloch, Syrian Turkmen, Iranian Azerbaijanis, and Ahwazi Arabs deserve the same. But you seem to be too busy sucking off the governments of Syria and Iran because they just so happen to be anti-Israel to give them any mind. What a shame!

In any case, since you've decided to ignore my main posts in favor of just asserting that I'm a racist and colonial apologist, I'm tired of arguing with you. Have fun sending yourself more sycophantic anon messages to make yourself feel better, you clown, and take care that you don't drown in your own splooge. 💖

Herein, hyperions-fate calls Israelis white in an argument with another user. The other user objects to the description of Jews as white. So, hyperion comes back with a separate text post that walks back his previous comment, probably make him look better:

It's curious that a self-proclaimed expert on the Middle East doesn't know that Mizrahi Jews in Israel tend to be more conservative and more hostile to Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular than Ashkenazi Jews in Israel, whom he seems to think much up the majority of Israel's population (which they don't) and can be described unproblematically as white (which they can't).

[peaceforasia]

Balochistan A Story of Popular Upheaval

Balochistan’s Gwadar region witnesses one of the largest ever protests recorded in the province. Having begun a month ago, the protests seem to a culmination of all the policies that have ended up in maladministration of the province. The concerns raised by the protests include access to clean water, illegal trawling, CPEC’s arbitrary policies and the fears of influx of outsiders into the region. As usual, the military is expected to diffuse the situation sooner or later; this does not take away attention from the past decades of misgovernance which resulted in the ongoing institutionalization of protests. In the backdrop of the seven-decade long insurgency, the presence of such grievances has also renewed focus on the legitimacy of Kalat’s accession to the dominion of Pakistan in 1948. This is not to question its legality on technical grounds, the reality remains that the coercion on the erstwhile ruler (who had a separate independent status distinct from other princely states) gave way to the continuation of similar tactics on the Baloch people at large.    

 This short article looks into the Human Rights situation in the province, particularly the Enforced Disappearances and the presence of Death Squads, the main issues plaguing Balochistan.

 Enforced Disappearances

 Enforced disappearance and Extra Judicial killings in Balochistan have developed a sense of insecurity among the common Baloch people. This issue has been at the top of the list of all the problems since the law enforcement agencies have been suspected for this case, in order to regulate and overpower insurgency in the province. The exact statistics of these enforced disappeared people remains debatable due to a deliberate under reporting. It was only in 1994 that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan first looked into the issue of missing persons. The cases of missing persons saw an upsurge in the country following the 9/11 attacks in the US. Further, missing persons increased significantly after the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006. The establishment’s response to Baloch nationalists and militants was to set up more military cantonments and outposts throughout the province. In the Marri and Bugti areas, these operations resulted in thousands of Internal displacements as well as migration across the Afghan Border. The government did attempt minimal firefighting through a general amnesty but the situation remained the same. According to a State Department report, “the federal Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances in Balochistan claimed 164 cases remained pending from 483 cases reported between March 2011 and March 2020”. In July 2020 only, the same report mentions that “45 individuals had disappeared and that assailants had killed 15 persons in seven districts [of the province]”.

 Death Squads

 Ethnic nationalism and popular unrest resulted in the formation of Death Squads, especially in the southwestern districts of Balochistan. Death Squads, which are believed to be unofficially supported by the forces linked to the deep-state have been used as a counter-weight against the insurgents and/or citizens accused of harbouring nationalist sentiments. The squads consisted of religious radicals, drug-smuggling networks and criminals picked up from members of the Baloch society to destabilise the insurgents. They are given tasks to harass, abduct and target and kill political and human rights activists, military critics and the common people with secular ideals. In return, they are given a free hand to blackmail and extort businessmen and indulge in the profitable drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Balochistan´s seashores. The illicit activities of these Squads have lately amplified to unparalleled levels mainly due to the Army outsourcing its genocidal policy to these convicts.

 The districts of Balochistan notoriously associated with Death Squads are namely Mastung, Khuzdar, Kech, Panjgur, Awaran and Dera Bugti. It is unfortunate that despite international campaigns run by the Baloch Diaspora and grassroots activists, the international community is yet to acknowledge the presence of these squads.  

To know more:

https://peaceforasia.org/balochistan-a-story-of-popular-upheaval/

[latestbreakingnewsupdates]

The woman who helped Prime Minister Modi is so cruel .. so terrible!

The woman who helped Prime Minister Modi is so cruel .. so terrible!

The voice that is guilty of freedom and liberty is dumb. He exposed the wrong doings of Pakistan and told the world about our desire for freedom. He fled Pakistan’s stronghold Balochistan region in 2016 and was hunted by some during his stay as a refugee in Canada. “We consider you our brother and ask for help. You should be the voice of the Baloch sisters on the international stage on genocide…

[indianarrative1]

‘Free Balochistan’, ‘Balochistan is not Pakistan’, ‘Pakistan Quit Balochistan’ are some of the hashtags which have been going viral on social media almost every day. More than just popular trends, they express the deep anguish of the people of Balochistan who are facing a genocidal incarceration by Pakistan. Social media has emerged as an eminently potent platform for protest chosen by the Balochs to express their misery and torture. This is also one of the last few planks left for them to show their resentment and exasperation against Pakistan’s abomination.

Four years ago, in his Independence Day speech, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accused Pakistan of human rights violations and atrocities in the Balochistan province and the Gilgit-Baltistan region. “People of Balochistan, Gilgit and PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) have thanked me a lot in the past few days, I am grateful to them,” Modi had said.

Baloch people have been expressing their solidarity with India and stated that they need India’s support to free their land from the domination of Pakistan and its military establishment. Pakistan has been accusing India of being behind the Balochistan insurgencies, an allegation described as nothing but “absurd” by New Delhi. It is the longest running insurgency which spouted in 1947 and is still simmering. It poses difficult problems of reconciliation, which have been conveniently shrugged off by stoking the canard of “the ubiquitous India Hand.”

Like every year, this year too, Baloch nationalists celebrated their Independence Day on August 11. “Entire Balochistan is celebrating the Independence day of the motherland and we urge the United Nations to help Baloch people to get their due support. International community should take note of Pakistan’s atrocities in Balochistan,” Free Balochistan Movement said in a statement.

Pakistan has systematically engaged severe human rights violations to constrict Baloch people’s struggle. The Pakistan government has also been committing cultural, linguistic, economic and sectarian genocide of Baloch people. Balochistan’s seven-decade-old grievances with Pakistan range from being denied a fair share in the province’s own resources to a continuum of military operations. Baloch nationalists maintain that the province was militarily usurped in March 1948 against the will of the locals. The growing ethno-nationalism in Balochistan saw insurgencies in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

The ongoing “Dirty War” in Balochistan exploded under Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf with the killing of nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in 2006, sparking the most gruesome wave of Baloch insurgency. The Pakistani Army and its “death squads” (Pakistan army’s hired mercenaries) and groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhanvi (LeJ), the Islamic State’s (IS) South Asia factions have targeted religious minorities in Balochistan, especially the local Shia Hazara and Christian populations. These groups have killed tens of thousands of Balochs. Bodies have been routinely disposed of in the deep ravines of this rugged and mountainous area. Many atrocities on Balochis, like rape of their women, are a common occurrence. The Baloch independence struggle is ongoing, the latest incident being the attack on the Karachi Stock Exchange on June 29, earlier this year.

On June 20, Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) Chief Akhtar Mengal quit the coalition government of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said that the province that he represents be declared “occupied Balochistan” if the state wants to continue its abuses in what is currently a “no-go area” spearheaded by “death squads”. Mengal castigated the crackdown in Balochistan and the growing number of missing persons which has reduced the locals to mere “bloody civilians”. Over the past decade and a half, thousands of Balochs have gone missing, the exact numbers are still unknown owing to the suffocating information control exercised by the Pakistani state.

On June 22, two journalists became the latest victims to disappear in Balochistan. In April, the dead body of Sajid Hussain Baloch, editor-in-chief of Balochistan Times, was found near Uppsala, Sweden. Reporters Without Brders (RSF) maintain that his death is linked to his work. Between 2007-2015, 29 journalists were killed in Balochistan. Mama Qadeer, the activist who initiated Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) and launched a 2800 kilometer march from Quetta to Islamabad in 2013, leads regular protests in front of the local press club at Quetta. Qadeer says that at least 47,000 Balochs have gone missing since 2000, the figure also quoted by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its latest report.

Balochistan province of Pakistan accounts for nearly half of the landmass of Pakistan. It is immensely rich in natural resources, including chromite, fluorite, marble, oil, gas, copper and gold. Despite these huge deposits of mineral wealth, the area is one of the poorest regions of Pakistan. Resource nationalism in Balochistan has got its second wind after Beijing and Islamabad jointly launched the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). When the CPEC agreement was announced in 2015, Baloch nationalists accused Islamabad of sidelining their interests in favour of Chinese investment and selling out Balochistan’s immense natural wealth without consulting them. Since then, BLA attacks have largely been focused on Chinese interests. Several deadly attacks on Chinese laborers have taken place since May 2017, which according to BLA spokesman Jeeyand Baloch, are part of the “BLA’s policy of not allowing any force, including China, to plunder the Baloch wealth in Balochistan.” Other significant attacks include a November 2018 attack on the Chinese Consulate of Karachi and the May 2019 attack on the luxury Pearl Continental Hotel in Gwadar.

In retaliation, Islamabad has severely tightened its security apparatus in the region. According to journalist Akber Notezai, many Balochs, particularly Zikris, are afraid of being displaced along the CPEC-dominated M8 route that runs from Turbat to Hoshab — an action that could push an already alienated population toward the BLA for protection.

In a recent interview, Karima Baloch, a former chairperson of Baloch Students Organisation—Azad said, “Pakistan always talks about acquiring the land. They don’t want the Baloch people but want the resources there. It has been its policy of exploiting the resources to make use of its geostrategic importance since a pro-freedom struggle is ongoing in Balochistan.”

The revolutionary Baloch poet Habib Jalib, who was shot dead outside his home in Quetta 10 years ago, wrote, “Mujhe jung ka maza maloom hai, Baluchon par zulm ki inteha maloom hai, mujhe zindagi bhar Pakistan mein jeene ki dua na do, mujhe Pakistan mein saath (60) saal jeene ki saza maloom hai (I know the thrills of fighting a battle, I know the extremes of atrocities soisted on Balochs, do not pray that I live forever in Pakistan for I know what a punishment living for 60 years in Pakistan has been for me)

[syedrezaabbas]

THE MUSLIM WORLD FAILED TO SAVIOR A MINORITY IN MYANMAR . Very Sad, there are 48 Muslims majority countries are there in this world in which a number of them the among the powerful resources possessing states. But there is no Islam in them, they are using the name of pious religion to rule, to destroy, to conquer and for lust. The bloody Saudi regime is the worst figure of past five hundred years, ISNA news opened many official documents and news relating that Buddhist extremist of Myanmar have links with Israeli officials. "The tragedy of Rohingyas, Shia massacre in Nigeria and Yemen is the worst crime over the innocent, poors, Helpless Muslims in this decade" Said Ali Bakhtiyar (ISNA). Remember what Prophet has said, “Whosoever relieves from a believer some grief pertaining to this world, Allah will relieve from him some grief pertaining to the Hereafter.” It is Iran and Turkey (who was neutral in such action from a long time-Turkey's empathy for the plight of Rohingyas experiencing genocidal persecution is as sincere as USA's concern for children dying in Yemen under Saudi bombing or India's concern for Baloch people or Pakistan's concern for Uyghurs under Chinese occupation. Prof. Dibyesh Anand put their step forward to overlook the serious matter. Several news and reports from Middle East media proposing that Iran will take stern actions if possible.

[peaceforasia]

Balochistan A Story of Popular Upheaval

Balochistan’s Gwadar region witnesses one of the largest ever protests recorded in the province. Having begun a month ago, the protests seem to a culmination of all the policies that have ended up in maladministration of the province. The concerns raised by the protests include access to clean water, illegal trawling, CPEC’s arbitrary policies and the fears of influx of outsiders into the region. As usual, the military is expected to diffuse the situation sooner or later; this does not take away attention from the past decades of misgovernance which resulted in the ongoing institutionalization of protests. In the backdrop of the seven-decade long insurgency, the presence of such grievances has also renewed focus on the legitimacy of Kalat’s accession to the dominion of Pakistan in 1948. This is not to question its legality on technical grounds, the reality remains that the coercion on the erstwhile ruler (who had a separate independent status distinct from other princely states) gave way to the continuation of similar tactics on the Baloch people at large.    

 This short article looks into the Human Rights situation in the province, particularly the Enforced Disappearances and the presence of Death Squads, the main issues plaguing Balochistan.

 Enforced Disappearances

 Enforced disappearance and Extra Judicial killings in Balochistan have developed a sense of insecurity among the common Baloch people. This issue has been at the top of the list of all the problems since the law enforcement agencies have been suspected for this case, in order to regulate and overpower insurgency in the province. The exact statistics of these enforced disappeared people remains debatable due to a deliberate under reporting. It was only in 1994 that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan first looked into the issue of missing persons. The cases of missing persons saw an upsurge in the country following the 9/11 attacks in the US. Further, missing persons increased significantly after the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006. The establishment’s response to Baloch nationalists and militants was to set up more military cantonments and outposts throughout the province. In the Marri and Bugti areas, these operations resulted in thousands of Internal displacements as well as migration across the Afghan Border. The government did attempt minimal firefighting through a general amnesty but the situation remained the same. According to a State Department report, “the federal Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances in Balochistan claimed 164 cases remained pending from 483 cases reported between March 2011 and March 2020”. In July 2020 only, the same report mentions that “45 individuals had disappeared and that assailants had killed 15 persons in seven districts [of the province]”.

 Death Squads

 Ethnic nationalism and popular unrest resulted in the formation of Death Squads, especially in the southwestern districts of Balochistan. Death Squads, which are believed to be unofficially supported by the forces linked to the deep-state have been used as a counter-weight against the insurgents and/or citizens accused of harbouring nationalist sentiments. The squads consisted of religious radicals, drug-smuggling networks and criminals picked up from members of the Baloch society to destabilise the insurgents. They are given tasks to harass, abduct and target and kill political and human rights activists, military critics and the common people with secular ideals. In return, they are given a free hand to blackmail and extort businessmen and indulge in the profitable drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Balochistan´s seashores. The illicit activities of these Squads have lately amplified to unparalleled levels mainly due to the Army outsourcing its genocidal policy to these convicts.

 The districts of Balochistan notoriously associated with Death Squads are namely Mastung, Khuzdar, Kech, Panjgur, Awaran and Dera Bugti. It is unfortunate that despite international campaigns run by the Baloch Diaspora and grassroots activists, the international community is yet to acknowledge the presence of these squads.  

To know more: https://peaceforasia.org/balochistan-a-story-of-popular-upheaval/