Balochistan, the largest of all provinces of Pakistan is a resource-rich region in southern Pakistan which has been at loggerheads and in perpetual conflict with Pakistan ever since it came into existence in 1947.
After the British withdrawal and subsequent independence of Pakistan in 1947, the king of Balochistan was given the offer to join India or Pakistan. Many Baloch separatists and fighters say that Balochistan was never a part of British India and was a princely state which wished to remain independent.
It was ruled by the Khanate of Kalat and remained independent for one year. However, in 1948, the Pakistan Government with a combination of military and diplomacy forcefully annexed the kingdom and made it into a province.
This triggered an insurgency which was quelled and suppressed in the 1970s. Ever since then, it became a hotbed for insurgency and anti-Pakistan protests.
The Pakistani Army perpetrates grave human rights atrocities on the native Baloch people. The number of violations is increasing daily and they are not just limited to human rights. The Baloch are facing gross political rights violations as well.
The region also suffers from a serious lack of development.
With the appointment of Major Asif Ghafoor as the Corps Commander in Balochistan, peaceful activities have ceased to exist. He rules with an ‘iron fist’ and directs orders like a colonial viceroy. The result is that many civilian institutions have been paralysed.
A Wing Commander of the Pakistan Air Force has set up his residence in the official residence of the Vice Chancellor of Balochistan University. Eminent institutions such as Education Department, Judiciary and Health are not immune from the presence of the military.
The people of Balochistan are fighting for their rights through peaceful means. A non-partisan peaceful movement named Haq-du Tehreek is an entity that wishes to acquire rights without resorting to armed conflict.
With the appointment of Major Asif Ghafoor as the Corps Commander in Balochistan, peaceful activities have ceased to exist. He rules with an ‘iron fist’ and directs orders like a colonial viceroy. The result is that many civilian institutions have been paralysed
The main bone of contention is the port of “Gwadar” which is the southern node of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is an important segment of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The port city of Gwadar is the epicentre or heart of the Baloch movement. Millions of ethnic Balochs have gathered there and have demanded fundamental civil rights such as recovering enforced disappearance, arresting political activists, preventing marine life genocide and banning all political activity in Gwadar.
The local people have complained several times that the CPEC is exploitative in nature.
However, the Core Commander Asif Ghafoor, declared that the protestors will be jailed. The head of Haq Tehreek Maulana Hidayat ur Rahman was imprisoned for 75 days in jail on fake charges and his bail was withheld in the judiciary.
Similarly, on March 25, Haq Do Tehreek Councillor Haji Javed along with Councillor Naveed Muhammad, Naseer Shehzada, chairman Allah Baksh, Maulana Liaquat Baloch was arrested after their bail was cancelled.
There is no freedom of opinion and the regime has placed a ban on political activities which is a clear mark of human rights violations in the region.
The case of people disappearing after the extra-constitutional arrests has become a daily routine of the Pakistan Army in Balochistan. In March 2023, 58 people forcibly disappeared and 31 out of the thousands of people who disappeared have come to the forefront after being released from detention centres.
Many of them were subjected and exposed to physical and mental torture, and the authorities have never produced them in courts. The state of Pakistan must be held accountable for restoring the physical and mental health of the people subjected to harsh punishment.
Additionally, they must pay compensation for the time spent by the arrested and give a chance for explanation.
The sad element is that the local officials of the UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Commission) are silent regarding the atrocities being inflicted on them.
Human Right Activists are also not playing their role in the rehabilitation of the survivors released and only a few selected cases have been provided media coverage.
In March 2023, the Pakistan Army killed 7 people which included a shepherd named Allah Dah of the Kolwah Area and Salahuddin Sipayad who is a resident of Kharan District were brutally tortured in custody. With no medical assistance being provided to them, both of them after their release succumbed to injuries.
Moreover, the people arrested by the Pakistan army are being subjected to torture and they are being treated in local hospitals without medical care and compensation.
Another nefarious tactic used by Pakistan Army in Balochistan is the use of the Counter Terrorist Department of the Police (CT) to give legal protection to the illegal activities in the region.
Hundreds of people, mostly children under 18 are imprisoned on false charges after years of enforced disappearances. They are incarcerated in prisons far away from their home where their families have no access to them.
In March 2023, a woman named Mahal Baloch has been a prominent case which has come to the limelight. She was arrested on 17 February 2023, and the CT (Counter-Terrorist) Department labelled her as a suicide bomber and went on to say that she was the main facilitator behind the attack.
In reality, she was arrested from her home by Pakistan Army along with her mother-in-law and two children. She was arrested for her political and social activities. She was presented four times before the Balochistan High Court. Her family members are pressurised and forced to remain silent.
The CT Department through torture had obtained a false statement from her and hatred is being spread against her in the media.
Amnesty International has written a letter to the Interior Minister of Pakistan to release her immediately. Students such as Saqib Sarpara and Sajid Sarpara forcibly disappeared from Quetta on February 12, 2023. The CT department has implicated them in fake cases.
The court had sentenced them to five years of imprisonment.
Enforced Disappearances
A sizeable number of cases related to enforced disappearances have been observed and reported in the following areas: Quetta (2), Kech (19), Panjgur (4), Awaran (1), Karachi (3), Gwadar (5), Kharan (9), Kuhlo (8), Hub (2), Bolan (2) and Khuzdar (3)
Out of 68 people who fell prey to forced disappearance, 57 people became targets in the month of March 2023 and 11 cases were discovered before March 2023.
Some eminent and deserving case studies that require attention include those of Haseem and Waju who are drivers and detained on March 1, 2023, were subjected to extreme torture in prison and later released on March 4, 2023.
On March 15, 2023, in the Kharan district of Balochistan, Pakistani forces raided several houses and ransacked them in various places of the Raskoh Ari Kalag area of Kharan, and tortured women and children, while 2 persons identified as Amjid and Qasim both of them have been taken into custody and forcibly disappeared.
On March 18, 2023, The Pakistani forces started a ground operation in the southern mountain range of the Awaran district. This operation continued for five days. The elderly Baloch shepherd living in the mountain range, Allah’s Dad the son of Ibrahim, was severely tortured and died due to severe torture.
