Baloch National Movement’s Central Information Secretary Dil Murad Baloch issued the documentary report for the month of August, saying that the aggression of state forces in Occupied Balochistan has continued with intensity. In August, Pakistani forces forcibly disappeared 55 people in 43 different military operations in Balochistan. During these operations, women and children were harassed and tortured; more than a hundred houses were looted.
During the same month, 31 people were killed, including 3 Baloch freedom fighters, who were martyred by ISI agents in the area of Dar-Giss. A Baloch woman was shot dead by forces in Panjgur; the victim woman was sitting in her house as the army opened fire on her from the front post, causing her death on the spot. Babu Nauroz’s son and his grandson fell victims to the tribal wars which are occurring under Pakistani patronage. Nine of the dead bodies could not be identified while the causes of the other 16 deaths could not be ascertained.
He said that 17 missing persons were recovered from Pakistani dungeons in August. One of them was missing since 2016; another young man was missing since 2017, eight persons among them were abducted in 2018 and seven others in 2019. They were held in torture cells of Pakistani forces.
Dil Murad Baloch said that the surfacing of unidentified bodies in Balochistan has become part of the norm. The majority of those are of missing persons. A cemetery of these unidentified bodies has been established in Mastung where bodies are buried on a daily basis. This is a deliberate Pakistani act; the bodies are always buried without carrying their DNA test. The main purpose is to hide its war crimes otherwise it could mount to international pressure on Pakistan. Another purpose of avoiding DNA test is to ensure that the relatives of the missing persons would constantly remain in torment. This is a willful attempt to send a clear message to the Baloch nation and to those who are struggling for the freedom of Balochistan that they should give up the struggle for a free Balochistan.
Dil Murad Baloch said that in the last few months some people were recovered from Pakistani army torture cells. On the contrary, continuous military operations are underway in Balochistan, and more people are being continuously picked up and kept in torture cells; houses are being burnt and livestock being looted. These are termed as normal routine search operations, but operation in Balochistan means destructive military barbarism. People are indiscriminately tortured and their villages are destroyed.
BNM’s Information Secretary said that during the month of August military aggression continued in various areas including Awaran, Jhao, Mashkey, Dasht, Kharan, Pasni, Panjgur, Kech and Kohlu. During the military repression, vandalism, and terrorism, the actual damage of these operations is difficult to estimate because there is no media nor international human rights organizations are given access to these areas. Balochistan has been turned into an open prison where the Death Squads are patrolling under the patronage of the Pakistani army and intelligence agencies. The lives, property, and honor of the people are at stake in the hands of these barbaric people.
Dil Murad Baloch said that in another case the Pakistani army has for the first time admitted that a Major involved in ransom extraction for the recovery of an enforced disappeared Baloch youth had been punished. On August 30, 2016, the families of the missing Hafizullah Mohammed Hasani, who went missing by the forces in Chagai’s area, were demanded by a Major of the Army to pay Rs 6.8 million. The victim’s family also paid the said amount but Hafizullah was never released.
This will be the first and not the last because the rules do not make any sense for the Pakistani military, and international war laws and human values are being crushed every day. Pakistan will continue to play the same way with the lives of the Baloch people to maintain its occupation, and humiliate the people. The main reason for this being Pakistan is not an enemy from which the Baloch expects it to adhere to human values. Earlier, there were several incidents that the army received money from the people directly or through their middlemen, but such incidents are not reported.
Zafar Baloch, who was missing from Quetta, the army also received Rs 3.5 million. Zafar Baloch son of Haji Ghulam Muhammad Baloch was detained and disappeared by the army from his house on July 24, 2015. Zafar Baloch was released in March 2019 after the army received a large sum of money. But it is not the same at every case; sometimes despite paying the ransom, people remain in prisons.
It should be noted that the army is receiving ransom from the victims of enforced disappearances in Balochistan but people are reluctant to come forward due to the threat and fear of the army. Along with other atrocities, this malicious and inhuman act of accumulating money from the families of missing persons is happening in full swing.
Dil Murad Baloch said that Baloch nation is going through its most difficult time. The enemy is bombarding on a daily basis. Balochistan has been turned into a hell. It is the national and human responsibility of every member of the Baloch nation to raise their voice against this cruelty, perform their national duty, as well as the international human rights organizations, that they should go ahead and take notice of Pakistan’s war crimes and play the role which is guaranteed in their manifesto.
