Balochistan: Turbat sit-in to be shifted to Quetta amid growing atrocities

QUETTA: The organisers of the Turbat sit-in protest have announced to shift their strike to Quetta amid growing state atrocities, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and killing of previously disappeared Baloch in fake encounters.

Two Baloch youths were arrested and disappeared by Pakistani forces in Balochistan’s Awaran region on Friday night 1 December 2023.

According to details, Rahim Jan son of Pir Muhammad and Akhtar son of Saheb Dad were whisked away at midnight offensive in the Perander Dost Mohammad Bazar area of Awaran.

Noorbakhsh, the brother of Akhtar was target killed on November 8 this year. Pro-freedom Baloch groups and local sources have said that Noorbakhsh was killed by a government-backed armed death squad.

Separately, the International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons has reported that Pakistani forces abducted Wahab son of Muhammad Jan on 1st November 2023 and he continues to be held incommunicado.

He is a  resident of Chahsar Turbat town in the district of Kech, Balochistan.

Turbat has been in the grip of a continuous sit-in strike since 26 November against the killing of four previously missing Baloch youth in a fake encounter by Pakistani police’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD).

The victims of the fake encounter included Balach Maula Bakhsh, Abdul Wadood, Shakoor Baloch and Saifullah Baloch.

Since the agitation and strike at Shaheed Fida Chowk in Turbat,  several family members have come forward to report the disappearance of their loved ones and express their fear that if the CTD is not stopped they could kill other disappeared persons in similar staged encounters.

Mayar Baloch an elderly father said that his son Fateh Mayar, a student cum head of a school in Buleda town of Kech district was abducted by agencies of the Pakistan army in Turbat city on June 14th, 2023.

Mayar Baloch pleaded for his son’s immediate release and maintained that he was innocent.

Fateh Mayar, a volunteer teacher at Haji Barkat School Buleda Gilli, is a student but he has taken the extra responsibility of managing the affairs of the school.

On November 24 Pakistani forces whisked away Gulzar son of Ayub and Miraj son of Ghafoor from Kech, Balochistan.

The abducted youths have been shifted to an undisclosed location after being detained and are currently being held incommunicado.

Sources reported that Miraj’s father Ghafoor Baloch was abducted and later killed in custody by Pakistani forces in 2012.

Ghafoor’s dead body was found in Karachi.  

Meanwhile, the organisers of the Turbat sit-in strike have announced to shift their protest to Quetta – the capital city of Pakistan Occupied Balochistan (POB) and march from Turbat to Quetta.

In a statement to the media, the Organisers and Baloch Yakjehti Committee said that they would halt at different cities and towns of Balochistan on their way to Quetta.

The of the long march, organisers said, was to create ‘mass mobilisation’ against the killing of missing persons in fake encounters and encourage the families of disappeared Baloch to be part of the movement for justice and accountability.

They said that it was not only CTD that was involved in extrajudicial killings but every other institution of the state machinery is an equal participant in this process of Baloch genocide.

 According to BYC statement the paramilitary forces, the judiciary and the bureaucracy are not only the facilitators of these forces but are also involved in covering up the crimes committed by them against the Baloch nation.

“The latest gruesome killing of Shaheed Shoaib Baloch at Abdoi Border is a reflection of the ongoing humanitarian incidents in Balochistan. When the family of Shaheed Shoaib wanted to be a part of the movement by bringing the dead body, they were forced to bury his dead body. When they wanted to register an FIR, they were told that it is not possible without a medico-legal certificate.”

They requested the families of abducted Baloch to come forward, join the movement and register the names of their disappeared loved ones.

They said their current movement “STOP BALOCH GENOCIDE” will soon announce the date of their long march toward Quetta.

They have requested the Baloch nation and the families of abducted Baloch to be part of the movement and unite against state crimes in Balochistan.