Quetta, April 18 (IANS) At least five civilians were extrajudicially killed, and four others were forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces in Balochistan, according to leading human rights organisations.
Human rights body Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) mentioned that the bullet-riddled body of 17-year-old student Hatim Baloch was dumped on April 16, nearly 11 days after he was allegedly forcibly disappeared by Pakistan’s Frontier Corps personnel from the Paroom area in the Panjgur district.
Condemning the brutal killing, the BYC said, “The state has drenched Balochistan in blood. The state thirsts for Baloch blood. Whenever the state is seized by its impulse, it spills Baloch blood without fear or restraint. Those who dare to ask questions are thrown into jails and dungeons to silence them. Drone strikes are carried out on civilian populations, people are killed, and an atmosphere of fear is manufactured so that people remain silent out of dread.”
In a separate incident on the same day, the rights body revealed that Pakistani forces killed four Baloch civilians in a staged encounter and brought their tortured bodies to Panjgur Hospital, claiming that they were killed in a combat engagement.
Expressing grave concern over the human rights abuses across Balochistan, the rights body said, “The killing of Baloch, particularly the disappeared in staged encounters, has assumed a brutally systematic form of Baloch genocide. In Panjgur district alone, approximately 40 Baloch youth have been ruthlessly killed and their mutilated bodies discarded within the past three months.”
Highlighting the atrocities against civilians across Balochistan, Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s Human Rights Department strongly condemned the enforced disappearance of two Baloch youths in Panjgur on Friday at the hands of Pakistani forces.
Citing information, the rights body revealed that FC personnel raided the residence of Dad Mohammad, detaining his son Abdul Wahid Dad along with another individual, Ashfaq Adam. Following their arrest, both individuals were subjected to enforced disappearance, and their whereabouts remain unknown.
Separately, 19-year-old Baloch youth Ali Asghar was forcibly disappeared from his home in the Jiwani area of Gwadar district in Balochistan during a raid on April 16 by Pakistani Military Intelligence (MI).
Additionally, another 19-year-old student, Mehraj, was abducted on April 12 from Green Plaza near the Children’s Hospital in the provincial capital, Quetta, by personnel of Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD).
The rights body stated that since Mehraj’s abduction, his whereabouts remain unknown, “causing severe concern for his safety and deep distress to his family.”
–IANS
scor/sd/
