Balochistan: Pro-Pakistan death squad ringleader gunned down in Kharan

QUETTA: The Baloch Liberation Army in a statement to the media has accepted the responsibility for an attack on the house of a squad leader of, the pro-Pakistan army, death squad in Kharan area of Balochistan on Friday 18 November.

Azad Baloch, the spokesperson of BLA, said fighters of his organisation carried out the attack in Haji Ibrahim Changizi neighbourhood in Kharan city at the residence of the main ringleader of the death squad, Sheikh Saleem  Tagapi.

As a result of the attack, Sheikh Saleem along with four other operatives, Abdul Raziq, Saif-ul-Islam, and Sanaullah died instantly and Delshad succumbed to death two days later. The remaining members of the death squad fled their hideout.

According to Azad Baloch, Sheikh Saleem Tagapi was working as the right-hand man of the notorious Shafiq Mengal for over a decade. He used to work as a commander in several areas including Quetta, Kharan, and Khuzdar was involved in genocidal activities.

“His crimes included enforced disappearances of Baloch youth, target killing, and inhumane torture during imprisonment, in addition to theft, robbery, Kidnapping for ransom and some anti-social activities.

“In the past few years, he was living at Shafiq Mengal’s camp in the Tutak and Wadh areas of Khuzdar in Balochistan and was heading several death squad networks,” the BLA statement read.

Azad Baloch in his statement also asserted that in the name of Jihad, Saleem Tagapi used to mislead naive youths in Balochistan and send them to Punjab for training. After that, they were used against the freedom struggle in Balochistan and neighbouring countries.

He further said that for the past five months, Sheikh Saleem and Pakistani intelligence agencies were involved in the kidnapping of young people and threatening innocent people to grab their lands in Kharan and surrounding areas.

Apart from this, he was asking for extortion by sending letters to the poor traders of the area in the name of Haq Tawar, Baloch said.

The spokesman of BLA warned that members of the death squads in all areas of occupied Balochistan, including Kharan, are on our target.