Editorial: The Baloch Genocide Day

The Baloch Genocide Day

Editorial

On 25 January 2014, the world discovered the worst brutality of mankind in South Asia when, in the Tootak area of Khuzdar, Balochistan, the media found out that state agencies had killed and mass-graved over 179 human bodies. These individuals had previously been detained by Pakistani security agencies, and some of them had been abducted by the local death squad led by the notorious Shafiq Mengal, the head of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the Balochistan region. Mengal was involved in the worst human rights abuses in the region. Shafiq Mengal, responsible for the majority of the murders and target killings of innocent people in the region, is known as the head of the death squad in Balochistan, to whom the Pakistani army relied upon to counter the national struggle of the Baloch people for their freedom. Shafiq Mengal was armed by the forces to counter the growing national sentiments among the public in the Jalawan region and their participation in the national liberation struggle. Like Shafiq Mengal, security agencies in Balochistan have armed multiple gangs, criminals, drug traffickers, and smugglers to counter the national liberation struggle of the Baloch people. The deal between the state and these criminal groups is very simple: in exchange for protection for their criminal activities, the criminal groups return the favor by killing more innocent Baloch people, generating fear among the public, and conducting raids and other espionage work for these groups.

The alliance between the military and these death squads, led by individuals like Shafiq Mengal, has devastated the entire Baloch people and led to policies of Baloch genocide. Today, on multiple fronts, the Baloch genocide is being carried out by the Pakistani military. One front involves supporting notorious death squad gangs that operate under the supervision of the army. On 25 January 2014, when news of the decomposed bodies and mass graves in the Tootak area of Khuzdar spread throughout Balochistan and some media channels, the military quickly sealed off the area to prevent the information from leaking to the world and silently tried to bury the bodies of the majority of the victims. This tragic day in the history of the Baloch nation shocked the entire Baloch people, while the enemy rushed to erase the evidence of the scene. However, the people of Balochistan were well aware of the entire episode and the state’s brutalities on Baloch land. The state has been involved in the horrifying genocide of the Baloch people for the last seventy years, but the discovery of mass graves in the Tootak area of Balochistan on such a large scale was the next level of barbarism against the Baloch people. The national liberation movement of the Baloch nation has continued since the very first day of occupation, with the relentless efforts of the Baloch people to reclaim their freedom, which was forcibly taken by the security forces. To counter the movement, the enemy has always resorted to genocide, a tactic that has worsened with every passing day.

Furthermore, the genocide has not ended with the mass graves; instead, it continues with multiple methods and is reaching new heights through target killings, mass graves, bombings, torture to death, assassinations, and the killing of innocent prisoners in fake encounters. Recently, over the past four years, more than two hundred innocent prisoners have been killed in fake encounters staged by the so-called CTD. One of the youths, Balach, was also killed in a staged fake encounter in Kech, which later resulted in a huge national uprising from the Baloch nation. A long march was carried out to highlight the Baloch genocide in front of the world. The enemy has always changed its methods but continues to kill more Baloch and abduct more by intensifying its notorious operations in Balochistan. However, it will inevitably fail miserably, as it has been failing for many years. Since then, the Baloch people have been chanting slogans of genocide to draw the world’s attention to the grave situation in Balochistan. Yet, the occupying army, alongside its death squad gangs in Balochistan, continues to kill more Baloch. Recently, multiple innocent people have been killed in different parts of Balochistan. The state’s relentless policy of Baloch genocide has escalated in recent times, but, as usual, the world remains silent on this barbarism for some petty interests. The Chinese investment in Balochistan has sparked further genocidal policies by the Pakistani army to carry out its exploitative actions in the region.

The international community needs to stand by its standards by calling on the Pakistani government and military to halt its genocidal policies in Balochistan. On 25 January 2025, the Baloch nation is urging international human rights bodies and state entities to intervene in Balochistan and stop the military’s genocide of the Baloch people, which has been accelerating in recent times. With the announcement of a new military operation in Balochistan, the army is attempting to continue its genocidal policies with even greater intensity. Human rights bodies have a responsibility to stop a state, which is a signatory of the human rights declarations, from conducting a genocide of an entire nation. The state, using brute force, will continue to kill more Baloch with its military aggression to strengthen its occupation of Baloch land. On the Genocide Day of the Baloch nation, the Baloch people remind all of humanity that if genocide is taking place in one corner of the world, humanity cannot remain at peace for long in other parts of the world. The world must take strong measures to stop the Pakistani state from continuing the Baloch genocide.

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