Mushkay Operation — Baloch genocide

Dr Abdul Hakim Lehri

Quetta: Baloch genocide is continuing unabated since the last 12 years in Balochistan. This barbaric inhuman genocide has seen the martyrdom of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, who served as the Governor and Chief Minister of the province, at the old age of 80 years in one of the most expensive and lengthy army operations against the Baloch. Other than Nawab Akbar, Mir Balaach Marri and the head of the Baloch National Movement Ghulam Mohammad Baloch and his associates were also martyred. Even today thousands of Baloch nationalist political activists, intellectuals, professors, doctors, writers, journalists, the elderly, women and even children are under forced detention in torture centres operated by the security forces, and all these detainees are being subjected to most inhuman and cruel torture.

The details of this inhuman continued torture have been duly and regularly provided to the international humanitarian institutions including the United Nations mission in September 2012. However this has to date been a fruitless effort because the crimes against the Baloch are continuing. Starting from Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, the Baloch nation has been given a gift of more than 500 dead bodies, tortured, mutilated, and thrown mercilessly in desolate places. It is not known how many of the Baloch who are still missing are dead or alive.

After the visit of the special mission of the UN, the Baloch were hopeful that the Baloch genocide would halt but this did not materialize. Rather to the contrary, the situation is deteriorating with regular progression in the intensity and adaptation of new tactics, where hired criminals are used to form death squads in the Baloch areas who are targeting innocent Baloch citizenry. The situation has reached a state where the second largest city of Balochistan, Khuzdar, is now completely paralyzed. For an eye-opening example, just recently for over 40 days the city remained totally closed; there was not even one shop open, and now the local population of Khuzdar has been compelled to migrate from their homes and become IDPs. The irony that makes these situations more painful is that the Pakistani media does not report on these atrocities. To control the media effectively and silence any communication on the inhuman cruelty continuing, the media correspondents in the peripheral regions, primarily Baloch correspondents, are being murdered brutally or their family members and relatives are murdered to instill fear and prevent them from performing their work. In Khuzdar alone, till now five journalists have been murdered. Resultantly, the Press Club in Khuzdar remained closed under protest till recently. While this was going on, another journalist in the city of Punjgur, namely Izatullah Abid, was also murdered. This whole orchestration in all plausibility leads to the blockage of information to the media from the Baloch areas on the ongoing atrocious operation by the Pakistan security forces, and the media as a whole is maintaining a silence and black out on Balochistan, particularly no mention of the recent-most and ongoing operation in Mushkay; it has not been reported upon till now.

Before I go into the details of the Mushkay operation, I want to register with the international community that they have literally failed even to abide by the principles and laws of human rights that they themselves have ordained. The war of independence that is being fought by the Baloch is not receiving any attention whatsoever. The Pakistani security forces have been given a free hand to continue with their atrocities against the Baloch in the name of the war on terror. These forces are destroying the Baloch in whatever manner they choose. Entire villages and habitats have been eliminated, young and old, men and women, children and infants, livestock and agriculture, everything is being eliminated indiscriminately. The so-called independent media is busy in painting a one-sided picture of the situation of Balochistan. Due to Balochistan’s unique geography, which also suffers the deprivation of development, the areas are a difficult terrain where gathering of information is difficult as such. Two of the puppet provincial government ministers have given evidence that in Kalat the Frontier Corps (FC) killed three Baloch youths after tying their hands. In Gyian in Turbat, 18 persons were killed by the forces. The objectives of the Pakistan army are not hidden anymore. They want that before elections an operation is completed in all Baloch regions even if it involves carpet bombing. However, it is most unfortunate that the international community has simply ignored all this.

Since December 25, 2012, an army operation has begun in Mushkay and Awaran, the area of a prominent Baloch leader Dr.Allah Nazar Baloch. This flies in the face of the white lies by the elected government and parliament that no operation is being carried out in Balochistan. The preliminary information that has reached us shows that in the initial phase of this operation where aerial bombardment has also been utilized, 30 innocent citizens have been killed, including elderly men and women and even children. Those who were martyred include Mir Saho s/o Rehmat, Khuda Bukhsh s/o Noor Mohammad, Ali Jan s/o Mir Saho, Jamil Baloch, 7 year old girl Khair Bibi, Lal Bibi w/o Dinar, Nazal d/o Dinar, Halima w/o Khuda Bukhsh, Ganj Khatoon w/o Ali Jan, Sud Ganj w/o Mir Saho, two year old Sakhi Daad, one year old Labo, 4 year old Bukhshi, Mah Naz (female), Gul Bibi (female), Sarah Ali Jan (female). Among the injured, those that have been identified are Sher Jan s/o Mir Saho, Karim Jan, Badal s/o Rehmat, Bukhshi Baloch, and two children.

Due the rugged terrain and presence of the security forces, no rescue or support has been able to reach there. The whole district is closed; no traffic is possible; people are under siege in their homes. Those injured include the elderly mother of Dr.Allah Nazar Baloch.

Reportedly in Awaran district of Balochistan, the second phase of the operation is continuing. Gunships were used with severe bombardment by heavy artillery fire. According to Online News Agency, there was heavy loss of life during the clashes, killing 18 resistance fighters and one security person. The reality is that those killed were ordinary Baloch civilians; there were no resistance fighters among them. According to the claims of the Pakistan government, five camps of the Baloch resistance fighters were destroyed. The reality is that homes of innocent ordinary Baloch are being bombarded and destroyed, they are being arrested, and the region is being treated as an occupied territory with burning down of houses and livelihood.

On the day following the start of the operation, a house-to-house search has been started. The Army is using armoured vehicles. For the Mushkay operation, district Awaran has been sealed and an intensive and stringent search operation is going on. Even passenger transport vehicles are not being allowed out of the district. The Deputy Commissioner of the district has instructed all medical and health staff to ensure their presence at the district headquarters. The entire region is showing a picture of sheer desolation. The district is cordoned off with heavy presence of the army. FC check posts are raised on all routes and streets. The area is now suffering shortage of edibles and items of daily need.

The cause of this operation has been devised by the Commandant FC in Balochistan that in Mushkay the FC was attacked, where one soldier was killed. Whereupon on the instructions and with the permission of the puppet government of Balochistan, the FC has retaliated with an operation in Mushkay and the adjoining areas, during which several ‘terrorists’ were killed, stating at the same time that the terrorists will be brought to justice under due process of the law. The reality is totally different from this. For the Pakistan army and FC, all Baloch, whether they are intellectuals, political activists or anyone else, are terrorists. And using this analogy they are allowed to destroy everything Baloch. The indiscriminate genocide, bombardment from the air and on the ground and all that goes with it is allowed to them because the victim at the receiving end is a Baloch.

This operation is strategically being extended to the whole of Mekran region, due to which some other areas and districts of Mekran are also under siege. The operation is being carried out by aerial bombardment and a fleet of 70 trucks with troops. This is a glaring violation of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and Protocols of 1949. It is reasonable to demand that Pakistan should be brought under trial for violation of the international laws and crimes against humanity.

Amnesty International raised a voice against the Baloch genocide, kidnapping and mutilated bodies, which establishes the glaring cruel violations of international law and human rights. Amnesty’s report on the situation in Balochistan has already been issued on August 30, 2012. On October 30, 2012, Eileen Donahue, the Ambassador of the US to Geneva and before this on February 8, 2012, Dana Rohrabacher, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee of the US Congress, also raised these issues. This did substantiate the hopes that the international civil community would come forward and intervene in this issue, but the UN has not taken any steps. This is indeed a question mark over the international community’s conscience. This is particularly so in the face of the historical examples from a past not so distant, where the change in governance system and carving out of geography were undertaken by the international community without the permission of the Security Council. I am referring to the Middle East, Kosovo, and East Timor. If the western Nations, NATO and the UN did not intervene to stop this bloodshed and the Baloch genocide now, then when? Any delay is bound to result in taking matters out of the hands of the international community. The weapons and ammunition that are being provided to Pakistan for the war against the Taliban and religious extremists is being used by Pakistan in a double game to repress and continue oppression against the Baloch. The ignoring silence and continued military support to Pakistan maintained by the international community is a basic factor which is allowing these atrocities to continue unabated against the Baloch, which is already indicated by the Mushkay operation above.

It is ironic to note that even the Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared that all fingers point to the army, the FC and intelligence agencies for carrying out these atrocities. These institutions are playing the role of the plaintiff, the advocate, the judge and the jury themselves and giving themselves permission to cruelly violate human rights and internationally accepted principles of human dignity and right to life. It is unfortunate that despite all this, nobody at the level of the international community cares about a people who are also part of the human race.

To malign the Baloch issue on the international front, in Balochistan and particularly in Quetta, sectarian strife is being promoted. Sectarian target killing is becoming a daily norm now. Thousands have been killed; even the clergy is now being targeted. Kidnapping for ransom has become a business; particularly doctors are now a target, due to which public and private healthcare facilities remained totally closed for a very long period of over 40 days. This also made the common people suffer to the maximum. It is now an established fact that all this is being carried out by the government agencies and their death and criminal squads. It is a strong plausibility that this entire scenario is being created to hurl Balochistan into the fire of sectarianism and religious extremism. If allowed to continue and get established, this will be a disaster for the entire human community in the long run without any resolution. It will become a pain in the neck for the whole world. It is not understood that why UN and other international forums are keeping a silent stance on this issue.

The reality is true, vivid, and does not need any further elaboration. Even if now the international community, UN, NATO, and all western nations, did not intervene in the Baloch issue, it will lead to an increase in the Baloch genocide.