Iranian forces claim to have arrested killers of Baloch couple

DOZZAAP (Zahedan): The Iranian authorities claimed to have arrested six people in connection with the abduction and killing of a pregnant Baloch female activist and her husband who were abducted from Pahra (Iran Shahr) city in Iranian Occupied Balochistan on August 9, 2023.

 According to reports, unknown armed men in two vehicles had attacked the couple’s house and forcibly abducted  Hani Gul and her husband Sameer Baloch in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.

The couple originally hailed from the Turbat region of Pakistan-occupied Balochistan but were residing in Pahra at the time of their abduction.

On August 22, 2023, the tortured and mutilated dead bodies of the couple were found in the jurisdiction of Saravan one of the main cities of Iranian-Occupied Balochistan. Their faces were disfigured as acid was splashed on them.

It is also pertinent to mention that Hani Gul’s brother-in-law Rauf Baloch, an English teacher, was recently target killed on alleged blasphemy charges. He was on his way to appear before a council of ‘religious scholars’ when armed men shot him dead.

Hani Gul had recorded a video message against Rauf Baloch’s murder and asked the Baloch nation to stand against such religious intolerance. She said the state of Pakistan has previously used different tactics to counter the Baloch struggle and now it was using the religious card to intensify the Baloch genocide.

The religious council issued a statement after Rauf Baloch murder clarifying that it had nothing to do with his target killing but pro-freedom Baloch groups and activists held the ‘religious Council’ a partner in crime of the Pakistani state forces.

On the other hand, no group has so far claimed the responsibility for killing Rauf Baloch in district Kech Pakistan Occupied Balochistan and abduction and subsequent brutal murder of his brother Sameer and his sister-in-law Hani Gul in Iranian-Occupied Balochistan.

Sources say that the intelligence agencies of Iran and Pakistan have created several proxy criminal gangs to do their dirty job of targeting politically active and learned members of Baloch society in both parts of Occupied Balochistan.

Iranian state media reports about the arrest of six members of a gang involved in the murder of the Baloch couple are also being seen as the Iranian state’s efforts to close this case forever. Also, Iran is yet to announce the identity of the alleged killers, the name of the gang and their motives for killing the couple.

Baloch activists also expressed concerns that Iranian forces might have arrested some innocent Baloch who will be tortured and coerced into confessing a crime that they have not committed. Iranian and Pakistani forces are infamous for torturing and coercing prisoners.

The involvement of Iranian forces and their proxies cannot be ruled in the murder of Hani Gul and her husband and Iranian forces are likely trying to divert public attention from the real killers. Previously several Baloch people including residents of Pakistan-occupied Balochistan have also been murdered but Iran has failed to arrest their killers.