Gomazi Burnt, Koshkalat Attacked – What Next?

Nuclear PM Elect Nawaz Sharif and his Hand-Picked Chief Minister Balochistan will be Held Responsible for the Atrocities:

Toronto, May 29th – Baloch Human Rights Council (Canada) condemned the recent barbaric acts of crimes against humanity by the Pakistan Army in Koshkalat ,Tump, and Gomazi, district Kech, Makran. The occupying army stationed in the area did not even wait for the so-called provincial parliament to form a new government – under direct orders from their chief of operations; 300 to 400 soldiers carried in several trucks entered the town of Gomazi and later Koshkalat and opened fire to terrorize the local inhabitants. The military rampage went on for hours that led to breaking into houses, looting valuables, and burning down residences belonging to the Baloch National Movement activists.

Reports from media and local sources have confirmed that since May 11 target-killing of Baloch activists and dumping of mutilated bodies of enforced disappeared persons is on the rise. Sources quoted more than a dozen deaths of political activists directly related to the post-election period at the hands of the security forces sent in for securing the polls. Majority of the incidents of killings and dumping of the bodies of missing persons took place in the Makran area of Balochistan.

BHRC noted that the additional 72,000 Pakistani troops sent to the different parts of Balochistan have raised the total number of foreign occupying forces to a staggering figure of 150,000 soldiers with assigned duties of brutally crushing the struggle for rights and freedom. 

BHRC emphasized that the repressive method of Scorched Earth policy of burning civilian residences is a new addition to the military campaign launched in Awaran and Makran as a form of collective punishment to crush the voice of dissent in Balochistan exercised by the invading army in 1973 against the Marri Baloch.

BHRC stated that the nuclear Prime Minister elect, Nawaz Sharif, responsible for the 5 nuclear blasts in Balochistan in 1998 has been handed power to select the new Chief Minister of the Balochistan Assembly. The race for the new Chief Minister as the next butcher of Balochistan is on – the criteria for the winning candidate is “who can serve Punjab’s vested interests best” in the province. It does not matter who is handed the chief executive authority – Pakistan Army’s mandate will be exercised to the letter.

BHRC concluded that the change of ‘civilian authority’ in Balochistan will not result in any change in the existing human rights violations, enforced disappearances, burning of towns & villages, and the kill & dump policies persistently on the rise since the previous Raisani Government. As a matter of fact the crisis will only deepen and could lead to massive human rights violations and genocide of the Baloch civilians at the hands of Pakistan Army and its proxy death squads.

Zaffar Baloch,

President, BHRC (Canada)