Pakistan: Unmasking state-backed 'Death Squads' and institutional silence fuelling the Baloch genocide

Awaran (Balochistan) [Pakistan], June 6 (ANI): In Balochistan's Awaran district, journalist Abdul Latif and his family faced relentless state harassment. His young son Saif and several relatives were illegally detained, only for their lifeless bodies to be discovered days later.

Advertisement

Shortly after burying them, Abdul Latif himself was assassinated in his sleep by state-backed death squads. This brutal episode underscores the systematic targeting of Baloch journalists and activists by the Pakistani state.

In another tragic incident in Awaran, Pakistani armed forces raided a family home. When the family resisted, Frontier Corps personnel opened fire indiscriminately, killing Hoori Baloch and her nephew Naeem instantly, while seriously injuring Naeem's mother, Daadi.

Meanwhile, in Quetta's Civil Hospital hostel, Mahjabeen Baloch, a Library Science student at the University of Balochistan and a polio survivor, was abducted by Pakistani law enforcement agencies and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD). Despite her disability, she was taken illegally from within the hospital premises.

https://x.com/BalochYakjehtiC/status/1930589513639932225

As per the BYC, surveillance footage from the hospital confirms the abduction, yet no mainstream Pakistani media reported it, and no political party spoke out. Instead, authorities continue to falsely brand the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) as "foreign-funded proxies," ignoring that BYC is the organisation courageously exposing the state's atrocities against the Baloch people.

The judiciary, too, has played a complicit role. BYC presented documented evidence to the High Court of Balochistan. Still, hearings were repeatedly delayed until the presiding judge was promoted to Chief Justice under the 26th Constitutional Amendment, legislation shaped by Pakistan's military to protect its interests. Once in office, the Chief Justice dismissed BYC's petition without legal explanation, silencing a key avenue for justice.

"These coordinated tactics reveal the true nature of the Pakistani state. Every institution - the media, the courts, political parties, and the armed forces - works to suppress the truth and intensify the genocide of the Baloch people," BYC stated. "Despite this, BYC remains steadfast, peacefully exposing every crime with unwavering courage and clarity." (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)