On Monday, March 3, the security forces brought four dead bodies of Baloch, allegedly killed in an encounter at the outskirts of the Awaran district – Mashkay – in a local hospital. Hours later, families confirmed their identities as “already been disappeared forcibly by the security forces” from their homes a week earlier (between February 27 to March 1, this year). The debate sparked on social media for rendering mass reactions to the unending Baloch genocidal polices in Balochisan. The indigenous people term these murders “fake encounters”, the history of which is not anew, while in the latest wake of years, it has witnessed outnumbering cases with those who were once already disappeared, gifting more clouds of tensions and concerns for the families of the disappeared Baloch as far as their safety is concerned.
The same day, a young Baloch corpse was found mutilated in Jiwani area of Gowadar district whose identity was confirmed through a ‘bullet-ridden’ student card. Shahid Abdul Hameed was forcibly disappeared by the security forces from the Gowadar district on July 26, 2023, who was then handed over to the district police on September 13, 2023, with criminal charges. The dumping of a young student reflects state’s brutal terms with the Baloch, making the situations even tensed.
Only in the last few months, Makoran has faced a variety wave of targeted killings – firstly of those who were once disappeared by the forces and months later they were handed over to the notorious Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) with fake terrorism charges. Though some managed to rescue, the others fell short of their lives in such attacks. The attackers were locally hired militias, termed as death squads, who have allegedly state hand at their back, making intra-Baloch conflict more practicable.
Apart from the ones being formerly disappeared and shot, in Turbat, a new wave of targeting scholars and educated class is also under state’s intentions. The targeted assassination of Allah Dad Baloch, an M.Phil scholar, in the starting week of February (2025), followed by the murder-attempt of Baloch teacher, Shareef Zakir in the next week have raised concerns among the people – particularly in the educated class. Though the scholars are key contributors for the national development, they are deemed a ‘threat’ for the state and its institutions.
Balochistan is burning, with state institutions fueling the fire of alienation. Instead of sorting out the indigenous masses’ concerns in means as described in the state constitution, they are choosing methods as going against the country’s “supreme laws” and the international obligations.
As per as the Baloch are concerned, they are getting used to state’s acts confirming their status as colonized. The strengthening “state terrorism” will only contribute in converting the spark of lightning into a storm of a two-end conflict. The Baloch will endorsed genocide, but, with what the state is practicing so commonly, will demand something bigger in return – the national self-determination.
