Baloch National Genocide is an Irrefutable Reality

Editorial

Baloch nation has faced national genocide in a multi-layered manner since its forced annexation by the Pakistani State. The genocide of the nation has become an undeniable fact where it has engulfed a major part of the nation. The sisters have carried the grief, mothers have mourned, and the fathers have shouldered the corpses of their own young sons. The Pakistani state has always justified it under many slogans, however, the reality now remains unchanged.

The genocide of Baloch nation is not only confined to physical genocide but it is in form of a multilayered version which is followed by political, cultural, and economic genocides. Baloch as a nation is facing an existential threat from the State in all aspects. The extrajudicial killings, fake encounters, target killings, and enforced disappearances are now being reported as a normal practice. As a nation, Baloch, has become the prime target of the military forces of Pakistan irrespective of its gender and age. These crimes are revealing the inhumane nature of the Pakistani State all over the world.

January 25th is recognised as “Baloch National Genocide Day” as a national response to the mass graves found at Tootak, Khuzdar, Balochistan on 2014. These mass graves were discovered having the bodies of many people who were subjected to enforced disappearances. Out of these bodies found there, only three bodies were identified because of their ID cards found in their pockets. However, more than hundred bodies remained unknown because of being mutilated. This is neither a story nor a work of a fiction but a reality of the genocide. This didn’t end there but continued with every passing year with enhanced intensity. Recently mass graves found at the Dasht area near Quetta (the capital of Balochistan), where bodies had numbers instead of their identifications. These mass graves were not only a result of any previous event but were an open message to the Baloch nation that under the present circumstances of occupation this systematic genocide will be continued until any resistance arises.

This genocide is multilayered and being practice in a form of very slow motion under total media blackout. This genocide is not highlighted through media so it never hit the global attention because these atrocities are structured very systematically by the Pakistani state. But the ground realities of Balochistan shows these all atrocities which define the Baloch Genocide.