Pro-independence leader and head of Balochistan Liberation Front, Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch, in a media statement, said that Pakistani colonial projects and colonial systems are causing an apparent increase in flood disasters in Balochistan. On the one hand, dilapidated infrastructures and corrupt projects were washed away, on the other hand, more than a dozen dams could not withstand the water pressure and collapsed due to substandard construction. Balochistan has been submerged in floods but the media and the Pakistani political system do not utter a single word about the flood and the victims. The alienation and apathy are sufficient to prove that our status is merely that of a slave nation and Pakistan’s interest lies in our resources and land only. The Pakistani political system considers the Baloch nation as just a colony.
The Baloch leader said that the devastation of the flood is undefinable. He said “we appeal to the international aid organizations and countries to come forward and support the flood victims”. Rehabilitation and helping the Baloch are not among Pakistan’s priorities. However, Pakistan will try definitely to collect international donations in the name of torrent catastrophes in Balochistan. It is to be made clear that if international organizations and countries trust Pakistan and provide aid, it will be manipulated to expand the ongoing military barbarity instead of victims’ recuperation.
He further said that if Pakistan receives any help from international donors it would be used against the Baloch nation. The earthquake of 2013 in the Awaran and Kech districts is a clear example of it. The victims of the earthquake have not been rehabilitated even today and they are living a miserable life. All the international aid received by Pakistan was spent on the military forces in Balochistan so that they continue the atrocities, Baloch genocide, and occupation of the Baloch people. They are perpetrating grave violations of human rights by playing with human lives. Balochs living in mountains and remote areas have been forcibly relocated and settled near military camps. In this way, The livelihood of hundreds of families, including agriculture and herding, is being destroyed.
Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch added that in 2013, Pakistan received a large amount of aid from multiple countries for the earthquake victims, but instead of rehabilitating the victims, they were quickly used for military operations and suppressing people. In such a situation, the Baloch nation should find a way unitedly to assist and support each other on its own. The international community is requested to send their organizations to Balochistan instead of providing funds to Pakistan so that the work of rehabilitation of the victims can be accomplished appropriately.
He further said that the families of the missing persons in the same floods and stormy rains are protesting in front of the Governor’s House in Quetta for thirty-seven days to recover their loved ones. Their demands are also genuine and simple like to be informed about their loved ones or to present them before the courts. But they are not even presenting them in the courts, because the army knows that enforced abducted people are not involved in any criminality. Therefore, the establishment cannot produce any evidence against them. They are punished just for being Baloch. In such a situation, the international community and the United Nations need to intervene so that Pakistan can be held accountable for the heinous crime of enforced disappearance.
[…] While restoration work on the extensive infrastructural damage caused by floods could commence subsequently, what can’t wait is the burgeoning food crisis caused by the almost complete damage to crops and vegetables. Flood victims evacuated to temporary relief camps are already complaining about food scarcity and the situation is only worsening. However, it’s not that Islamabad is not doing its bit to overcome this crisis- as per media reports,… […]