Baloch nationalists being targeted in all operations by Pak: AHRC report

Hong Kong: Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a Hong Kong based organisation in its reports has highlighted that Balochistan Province continues to suffer the wrath of law enforcement agencies with Baloch nationalists being targeted in all of the operations.While the

While the Baloch nationalists are targeted in all of the operations, the religious zealots have been allowed to operate with impunity to divert attention the extremists and religious zealots have been allowed to operate with impunity to divert attention from the Baloch freedom movement.

The reports point out that the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat (ASWJ) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the proscribed religious militant organisations, both have a green signal from the Pakistani State to carry on without fear. It also pointed out those vicious designs of the government to perpetuate their authoritarian writ over the people of Balochistan and gain control over the Baloch`s resources by engaging them in war.

"State agencies deliberately force the Baloch towards militancy, because the State is unable to defeat them on political grounds. They drag the Baloch into the battlefield to crush them," the report said. The report also pointed out the recent Quetta blast was an attack on intellectuals to silence the voices of Baloch people.

"The attack will herald another round of operations, further alienating the Baloch. The common perception amongst the people of Balochistan is that the State has utterly failed to protect them, as it is only interested in saving the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)," the reports said.

The reports highlighted that security forces wanted to punish the indigenous population that is opposing the building of the CPEC and now the Baloch people fear they will become a minority in their own province.

"The fact that the State, instead of opting for dialogue to solve the issue, has adopted a security-centric approach to squash resistance; this has further eroded their trust in the government," the report points out.

The mistrust between the general populace of Balochistan and the Federal government has prolonged the insurgency over State`s "kill and dump policy." "The State`s strategy of creating and supporting Islamist extremist groups to manage domestic political challenges has enormously aggravated the problem in Balochistan," the reports said.

Quoting official reports, it said that nearly a thousand bullet-ridden corpses have been recovered from various parts of Balochistan in the past six years, many of which are unrecognizable, with the faces burnt by the use of acid, a tactic used by the intelligence agencies.

According to official data over 112 persons are still missing in the Province with corpses found is threatening to breach the 1,000 mark in recent years. The reports said that all these figures have been prepared by senior government officials assigned to execute the National Action Plan (NAP) and to cracking down on terrorism and supplement the ongoing anti-terrorist offensive in North-Western Pakistan.

The report quoted Mr. Sana Baloch, ex-Senator from Balochistan, saying that Balochistan is in a political crisis and it needs a well-sequenced roadmap to undo the damage and reverse the cycle of violence in order to prevent further political and human catastrophe or repeat of another cycle of violence in the province.

"A combination of economic collapse, Talibanisation, sectarian menace, abductions for ransom, near-to-collapsed health and education infrastructures, corruption and brutally mismanaged governance have brought the province to the verge of a Somalia-like situation where the ordinary citizen begs state-backed criminals, gangs and mafias for safety and security," Baloch said.

The reports added that Baloch is discontent with State policies is a direct consequence of ill-crafted security centric policies of the State, whereby the masses are left to fend for themselves.Kech, formerly Turbat District, one of poorest districts, has remained, for many years, in the total control of the Pakistan Military, the Frontier Corp (FC).