The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) after the recent protests in Gwadar, released a statement which said that “it is now imperative for the state to abandon its second-tier policy for Balochistan”.

The HRCP has condemned the killing of a policeman and violence against protesters during the recent protests in Gwadar. It further said ,“We also call on the provincial government to protect people’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly by avoiding mass arrests and use of force and focus on more effective methods of crowd control”. The Commission further stated that it is the responsibility of the provincial government to communicate with the protestors and give a fair hearing to their demands. They have to hear their legitimate grievances, which are not new, focus on demands that every citizen of Pakistan has the right to security of person, freedom of movement and peaceful assembly, access to clean water, education and health. Press and media censorship of Balochistan need to be removed and its problems need to be addressed.

The Pakistani regime invaded Balochistan and occupied it on 27 March, 1948, which continues till date. The Baloch have been living under inhuman conditions under the occupier and brutal treatment meted out to the people of Balochistan.

The spokesperson of the Baloch National Movement said in his statement that the sufferings of all oppressed and subjugated nations are common. “We condemn the state atrocities in Pakhtunkhwa and the forcible occupation of the local people’s land in Gilgit-Baltistan. The resistance by the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakhtunkhwa had made it clear that no nation in Pakistan is ready to give up its national identity and accept the supremacy of Punjab. Without coercion and force, Pakistan cannot maintain its control over the land and resources of the subjugated nations even for a day”.

“Today, millions of people from Baloch, Pashtun, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Gilgit-Baltistan and Saraiki Wasib are fed up with the rule of Punjab. This has ended the justification for the existence of Pakistan.Every nation should have unconditional full authority and freedom over its land. The national security of the nations living in the region is in danger due to slavery.  The people of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Pashtun nation should start resistance on all fronts”.

The spokesperson of BNM said that the subjugated nations should unite and fight for their freedom against the occupier Pakistan instead of a fruitless struggle for small privileges.

He said that the Pakistan Army is trying to erase the national identity of the local people by occupying their lands in Gilgit-Baltistan and the public voices are being crushed by force for resisting it. Pakistan also started this tactic to turn the Baloch into a minority on its land. In various areas including Gwader, a policy was adopted to settle non-local people by occupying indigenous people’s lands.

The spokesman said that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan had been protesting against the occupation of lands for the past several days, but nothing had been heard. The pillars of the Pakistani state provide justice and privileges only in Punjab while other nations are being treated as slaves. Due to that, those nations had realized slavery and are struggling against it.

He said the state of Pakistan is again preparing for the military massacre in Pakhtunkhwa. In the past, public property was also damaged in the name of operations against armed organizations. Thousands of innocents were killed, and millions of people were forced to migrate by destroying their homes and businesses. Then preparations are being made to impose a new war on the Pashtun nation to collect dollars from the USA and other countries.

The spokesperson said, “Pashtun and Baloch are natural allies and the interests of both nations are related to each other. Balochistan has also been affected by the effects of the so-called war on terrorism. In the name of this war, the state of Pakistan wants to suppress the national question, but without solving this, peace cannot be established in the region.”

Paki military operations have started in Mach Sikhni, occupied Balochistan where a large number of Pak military personnel have set the forests on fire while patrolling on foot. The Paki regime  have used mortar shells as well which have led to more suffering of  the Baloch living in the mountainous areas of Balochistan. This is not the first time the Paki regime has set the forests on fire .In the past also different parts of occupied Balochistan were set on blaze as part of the military operations as Pakistani authorities claim that Baloch sarmachaars (freedom fighters) hide in these forests after targeting the Pakistani military.

The Pakistani forces then forcibly disappeared two Baloch students from Girishg area of Khuzdar district of Balochistan. The missing students have been identified as Siraj Noor son of Noor Muhammad resident of Spikneri and Muhammad Arif son of Ghajian and resident of Sirij Gerishk. The families of the two students  said that both the students had come to their native place during their vacation and that they were forcibly disappeared.

A bullet-riddled dead body of a forcibly disappeared man was recovered from the Awaran district of Balochistan. As per the locals, the body has been identified of a young Baloch man namely Imran Babu who had been allegedly abducted by the Pakistani forces on 23 December from the Kolwah area of the Awaran district.

The said person was detained by the security forces and kept incommunicado, his family confirmed. Nevertheless, his mutilated body was recovered on Thursday.  Meanwhile, two more young men have been reported missing from different areas of Balochistan. As per reports, Pakistani forces detained two people from two different areas of Balochistan and transferred them to an unknown location.The missing persons have been identified as Nadil and Faizullah. Among them, Nadil has been reportedly detained from Kech and Faizullah from Nushki districts of Balochistan.

The spokesperson of the Baloch National Movement strongly reacted to the Gwadar incident and said that the brutality of the Pakistani state against the peaceful protesters in Gwadar proves that when the oppressed Baloch demand basic rights or freedom then they are only met with bullets, tortures and enforced disappearances.

The spokesman said that Gwadar had been declared the hub of China Pakistan Corridor (CPEC) by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with the help of the People’s Republic of China and declared it a “game changer” projects. “But the people of Balochistan, including Gwadar, are not only unhappy with these projects but are expressing their displeasure through continuous peaceful protests against the occupation of Baloch land, resources, economic resources and colonial policies of Pakistan and China in the name of development. In response to this, attempts are being made to silence the Baloch through forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings in Gwadar and Balochistan. The state is using state terrorism to pave the way for occupation”. Continuing the same strategy, Gwadar had been under siege for the last six days, and a crackdown had been going on against the political workers. More than 100 political workers had been arrested from Gwadar and Kech districts and the majority had been either transferred to other cities or forcibly disappeared. At the same time, the police in Ormara tortured and killed 19-year-old Dost Muhammad son of Shamby, who was protesting against police violence.

The spokesperson further said, “BNM strongly condemns the police violence against the peaceful protesters in Gwadar, but simultaneously believes that we must direct our struggle and national strength on the right path instead of wasting it in oblivion. Because the demands of civil rights and civil liberties without the demand for freedom push the nations towards a more abyss. All sections of the Baloch nation should consciously realise that until we get rid of national slavery, we will not be able to get out of this quagmire.’’ He further said that it was the same land where 35 years ago on February 21, 1987, Yasmin, Azgul and Ghulam Nabi had been shot dead by the police on their demand for water supply. The exact history was being repeated once again. The ongoing atrocities by Pakistan in Balochistan had turned into genocide. Those atrocities provision the position of BNM and other pro-independence parties that the Baloch nation had no future in Pakistan. “Pakistan is trying to prolong national slavery by entangling us in small demands and problems.”

Amnesty International South Asia has expressed concern over the arrests and the imposition of emergency after the protest in Gwadar district of occupied Balochistan.Amnesty International said that the people of Gwadar have a right to peaceful protest and the state has a responsibility to respect people’s freedom of expression.On the other hand, Gwadar police has arrested a senior journalist Obaidullah, former Joint Secretary of Gwadar Press Club Haji Obaidullah along with his three sons after raiding the journalist’s house in Syed Zahoor Shah Hashmi Ward.According to the police sources, they have been arrested on the basis of the accusation that the important member of Haq Do Movement, Councilor of Gwadar, is the cousin of Majid Johar, who is wanted in the protests.The three sons of the arrested journalist were later released after the intervention of senior journalists of Gwadar.