Armed men, believed to be Baloch rebels fighting for independence from Pakistan, gunned down five workers hailing from Punjab in the Mashkail town of Balochistan’s Washuk district on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner Abdul Majeed Sarparah said. The incident occurred amid ongoing Operation Shaban and other counter-terrorism operations in the province, in which the security forces have claimed to have neutralised over 100 terrorists since July 5.
Local Baloch sources have, however, disputed the figure and claims by the Pakistani security forces of killing armed rebels. Instead, the Pakistan security forces have killed many innocent Baloch youth who had been forcibly disappeared from their homes. The bodies of many of such youths have been found all over Balochistan in isolated places, showing clearly that they were shot dead in cold blood, and not encounters as claimed, a report in Dawn said.
“The incident took place in Mashkail town close to the Pakistan-Iran border area, when armed men riding motorcycles opened fire on shops where the labourers from Punjab were working,” DC Sarparah told the media.
Police officials said the five individuals suffered multiple bullet injuries and succumbed to their wounds on the spot. They added that after firing, the assailants escaped from the site.
The officials said police and other security personnel rushed to the site soon after receiving information about the incident and shifted the bodies to the government health facility in Mashkail. After completing legal formalities, arrangements will be made to dispatch the workers’ bodies to their native towns in Punjab, according to the police officials.
Meanwhile, the security forces, along with the law enforcement agencies, launched a search operation in the area to trace the elements involved in the attack. In recent years, Balochistan has witnessed a spate of such attacks targeting those hailing from Punjab.
The reason given by the armed Baloch rebels is that these Punjabis usurped the few jobs that are available in Balochistan and should rightfully go to the local Baloch. Instead, with backing from powerful people from Punjab, affiliated to different political parties, these workers from Punjab take up the jobs in Balochistan.
In March last year, four labourers from Punjab were shot dead by unknown assailants in Balochistan’s Kalat district. The same day, four policemen were killed in a separate incident in Noshki district.
In February 2025, unidentified gunmen killed seven people travelling to Punjab after offloading them from a passenger bus in the Barkhan district.
In May 2024, seven barbers from Punjab were shot dead near Gwadar, while August saw 23 travellers offloaded from trucks and buses and shot in the Musakhail district. This incident had happened on August 26 and several buses and trucks which did not halt at the road blocks set up by the rebels were burnt down. The rebels had manned these road blocks for several hours and then slipped away.
In September 2024, rebels armed with automatic weapons stormed an under-construction house in the Khuda-i-Abadan area of Panjgur town and killed seven labourers, all hailing from Multan.
Such repeated attacks are meant to discourage workers from Punjab to come to Balochistan.
