Shaal: All chapters of BNM, Foreign Department, Human Rights Department and Information Department have been directed to protest against the latest wave of repression and enforced disappearances by the State of Pakistan in Balochistan within their mandate and responsibilities, and organise coordinated programs and demonstrations should be held to highlight this oppression worldwide.
In this campaign of BNM, media awareness, protests will be held, letters will be written to various international organizations, diplomatic level meetings will be held abroad and information department will highlight all these activities in the media.
The spokesperson of BNM has said in his statement that since the first month of this year, the Pakistani army and its affiliated institutions have increased the intensity of repression in Balochistan. Pakistan’s parliamentary parties recognize state repression in Balochistan when they are in opposition, but when these same parties form part of the government, enforced disappearances and military killings increase rather than decrease. From Zardari’s presidency to Shahbaz Sharif’s tenure as Prime Minister, there has been no decline in the continuity and intensity of state repression in Balochistan. These are the parties that acquit themselves by calling the Balochistan problem the acts of dictator Pervez Musharraf. But despite Musharraf’s removal from power, there has been no decline in state atrocities in Balochistan. All the parliamentary political parties of Pakistan are complicit in the atrocities on Balochistan. Likewise, the anti-Baloch character of the Baloch parliamentary political parties cannot be ignored. Today, the Baloch nation has understood that the atrocities here are not being committed by the ruling party, but by the state of Pakistan, in which all the pillars and those who operate these pillars are equally complicit.
The spokesman said that on February 3, Mohammad Rahim Zahri, his mother Bas Khatoon, his wife Rasheeda Zahri and their two young children Dua Zahri and Yahya Zahri from Nashnaas Colony, Gishkuri Town, Shaal were forcibly disappeared by the Pakistani army after their arrest. His mother and two young children were released four days later, while his wife was released after 11 days of forced disappearance in a torture cell at an unknown location.
He said that Rahim Zahri’s family had been targeted by the Pakistan Army earlier too. Apart from Rahim Zahri, Liaqat Baloch and Zakria Baloch are also missing in this family. While Tabish Waseem and Zahoor Zahri have been killed by the Pakistani army. Mama Sharif was targeted in which he was shot 6 times.
The spokesman said that the Pakistani army is targeting the families of people associated with the Baloch freedom struggle under its cruel and inhumane policy of collective punishment. It also targets the families of those who have been martyred fighting with the Pakistani army or peaceful political activists who have been forcibly disappeared or killed in torture cells and their bodies dumped.
Martyr Sefahan Baloch was a member of Baloch National Movement. His son Zaman Baloch was arrested and forcibly disappeared by the Pakistani army on February 10. Earlier on June 9, 2020, the Pakistani army had forcibly disappeared him after arrest and released him after severe torture. On February 10, he was forcibly disappeared again. When his family protested against his enforced disappearance, his house was raided by Pakistani forces and the family was tortured.
On February 3, Abdul Hafeez Zahri, who was released on the order of a Pakistani court, Pakistani agencies again tried to kidnappedn him in front of the jail and shot him when the family resisted. His abduction attempt failed on resistance but his life and other members of his family are still in danger.
The spokesman said that BNM chapters abroad, central officials, members of the central committee and department heads will conduct a vigorous campaign against the recent incidents in Balochistan. During this campaign, efforts will be made to convince the world to support Balochistan’s freedom struggle because without Balochistan’s freedom, the Baloch nation will be deprived of human dignity and human rights.