During September this year, Pakistan Army conducted more than 50 military operations in Gichak, Wadi Mushky, various areas of Awaran, Duraski and Dasht areas of Kech, Mand and Tump of occupied Balochistan. These military operations were Pakistani state-sponsored barbarism in Balochistan where gunship combat helicopters shelled and bombed innocent Baloch people along with the ground forces.
According to the available data, 30 people have been abducted by the Pakistani forces during the ongoing operations. The full details of missing persons are yet to come. Also, during the month of September fourteen bodies were recovered of which ten people were martyred due to firing by the Pakistani forces while the exact cause of deaths of others is still being ascertained. A man was rescued from Kech district who was abducted by Pakistani forces a year and a half ago.
During their operations, Pakistani forces looted 258 houses and took away all their belongings while 208 houses were set on fire. The occupying forces of Pakistan burned a large number of forests in Gichak, Wadi Mushky, different areas of Awaran, Ragha, Draski Mand and Dasht, including forests across more than 50 km in Dasht and several kilometers in Tump. Hundreds of cattle have also been killed during these operation during shelling of gunship helicopters by the Pakistan Army.
These statistics are for the month of September this year, and it’s not impossible to estimate the war crimes of the occupying state of Pakistan from these statistics.
Pakistani forces destroyed dozens of human settlements through simultaneous use of gunship helicopters during their ground operations in various areas of Awaran, Mushke Valley, Gachak, Kolwah, Draski and several areas of Ketch, Dasht, Mazanband and Tump. Hundreds of cattle were also killed in this barbarism.
Further, on one hand the state’s barbarism continued, and on the other hand a Baloch journalist, activist and artist Shahina Shaheen was killed by her husband Mehrab Gichki in Kech district. Local sources said that Shahina Shaheen’s husband is a special operative of a religious terrorist group backed by Pakistan.
And just like no action was taken against the killer Pakistani forces of Hayat Baloch, no action has been taken against Shahina Shaheen’s killer husband Mehrab Gichki who is backed by the Pakistani forces. Protests and demonstrations against the brutal killing of Shahina Shaheen and Hyat Baloch are still on across Balochistan but alas, where’s justice in the fate of the unfortunate Baloch!
Regarding Shahina’s killer, the local administration openly protested in front of the people in Turbat and said that he is influential, there is nothing we can do, so there is no justice for the murder of Baloch daughter.
Similarly, sources say that the military personnel accused in Hayat Baloch’s murder have shifted back to the military camp and the SSP has been clearly asked to take action against protesters and bring them to the police station if need be.
In fact, this is everyday situation across Sindh, Pashtunistan and Balochistan. Even in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) the atrocities are increasing with each passing day.
Baloch Sarmachaar’s Last Bullet
However, just as state barbarism is on the rise in occupied Balochistan, so are the true lovers of the land, the Baloch children, making history with their blood and defeating the occupying enemy on the battlefield. There are dozens of examples in the struggle for independence of Balochistan and the ongoing Baloch revolution that after a long battle with the enemy, when the bullets of Sarmachaar (freedom fighters) are about to run out, they save the last bullet so that they do not fall into the enemy’s hand alive. This philosophy of the Baloch national struggle has paralyzed the enemy mentally.
On Friday, September 18, a confrontation took place between the Baloch Sarmachaars (freedom fighters) and the occupying Pakistani Army in Koraghe Kalan, which led to a two-way clash. In the clash, four BLF commanders, Muslim son of Muhammad Hussain, Second Lieutenant Sikandar son of Muhammad Ibrahim, Mansoor son of Mullah Abdul Qadir and Saadullah, fought valiantly against the enemy army and were martyred. His martyrdom came as the Pakistani military had been conducting military operations in the area for the past two weeks.
In this operation, in violation of the laws of war, the occupying Pakistani forces targeted the civilian population with gunship helicopters. During this time many Baloch homes were set on fire and livestock looted. Paying homage to the martyrs, BLF spokesman Major Gwahram Baloch said in a statement issued in the media that Shaheed Muslim Baloch is the younger brother of martyred BLF commander Suleman and nephew of BLF leader Dr Allah Nazar. Shaheed Sikandar Baloch is the nephew of Dr. Allah Nazar and Shaheed Mansoor is the nephew of Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch. Commander Suleman and Safar Khan Baloch, brother of Dr. Allah Nazar, were martyred by the Pakistan Army on June 30, 2015 when they attacked their house along with his guests and 15 other comrades.
It should be noted that these four Baloch youths kept the honour of the philosophy of keeping last bullet for themselves. It is said that two Sarmachaars (freedom fighters) were martyred while fighting with the Pakistan Army and Shaheed Muslim Jan and his companion saved the last bullet for themselves after their bullets ran out and embraced martyrdom.
The local Pakistani administration confirmed that 20 army personnel were killed on the spot and more than 20 were injured in the clash.
Let me shed some more light on the philosophy of keeping the last bullet for themselves by the Baloch Sarmachaars.
On June 30, 2015 Mehi area of Meshka Valley, the hometown of Baloch national leader Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch was attacked by the Pakistani Army in which 15 Baloch children were martyred, including the elder brother of Dr Allah Nazar and his other family members. This war has a special significance in Baloch history. The nephew of Dr Allah Nazar, Suleiman alias Shaheq Baloch, fought with the Pakistan Army all day. After fighting heroically, Suleiman was seriously wounded and he and other comrades were left with a gun and two bullet magazines. Putting the gun aside for a while, Suleiman filmed these historic moments with a Sarmachaar where he smiles in the video and says that “our destination is freedom”. Suleiman recorded his message for the nation, other Baloch youth and his mother. He then continued to fight bravely against the Pakistan Army, and when the bullets ran out he adopted the philosophy of firing last bullet onto himself and embraced martyrdom.
His younger brother Muslim Jan applied this same philosophy along with the other comrades once again on September 18, 2020, when they embraced martyrdom. Each such martyrdom brings the Baloch goal of national liberation closer.
More than fifty close relatives of Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch have been martyred in the Baloch national struggle. Pakistan’s policy has been to target the relatives of Baloch leaders and put pressure on them. Under this policy, the Pakistani military has targeted, martyred or kidnapped many leaders and relatives of militants. But in response, hatred against Pakistan has increased among the Baloch people. Due to this hatred, state atrocities and patriotism, the Baloch national movement has gained strength and has been going on uninterruptedly for the last twenty years.
On September 28, the Pakistan Army launched a long operation in Dasht-e-Mazanband area of Ketch district. In this operation, SSG commandos also landed alongwith gunship helicopters. Local state informants were also with them. But the Baloch warriors once again annihilated the enemy.
Captain Irfan alias Imdad son of Shaheed Ghulam Mustafa resident of Konshaqlat, Second Lieutenant Noor Khan alias Barmash son of Noor Bakhsh resident of Khairabad were martyred while fighting valiantly.
Major Gwahram Baloch said in a statement that the martyred soldiers fought valiantly against the enemy in the areas of Sedan Pir and Gandhadar, killing more than 15 Pakistan Army personnel and injuring several others.
Munir Ahmed, son of Abdul Rashid, a resident of Tump, was also killed in the same clash. But as usual, the Pakistani Army kept the bodies of the two Baloch children with them for two days instead of handing them over to their families and mutilated them after martyrdom. Residents of the area staged a sit-in in front of the state army camp in Tump for two days, but the Pakistani Army did not allow the bodies to be flown and their last rites were not performed according to Islamic traditions.
Rahim Baloch, an advocate, intellectual, former chairman of BSO and former central secretary general of BNM said in his tweet that Pakistan is even scared of the bodies of Baloch. Despite public protests, Pakistan Army refused to hand over the bodies of Shaheed Irfan Baloch and Shaheed Noor Khan to their heirs for final rites and buried them without a funeral like that of Shaheed Akbar Bugti. Such insult to the martyrs is unbearable.
Baloch nationalist leader Akhtar Nadeem said in his tweet that Baloch resistance would continue till independence. “On the battlefield and on other fronts, the Baloch children are proving it by sacrificing their lives. Shaheed Irfan and Shaheed Noor Khan set another example in Mazanband Dasht. I pay a great tribute to them.”
Similarly, BNM Chairman Khalil Baloch in a statement said that the martyrdom of Baloch children in Dasht by the Pakistani state and desecration of their bodies was an inhuman act and said that the nations were in a state of war. “I respect the values of nations. The Baloch have fought many wars against the occupiers over the last seventy years. Two decades have passed since the current war, but so far no body of any enemy soldier has been desecrated because the Baloch are a vibrant and decent nation and the armed forces of the Baloch nation abide by their national values and international law. On some level, we consider the desecration of a corpse an unforgivable crime.”
In September, when state repression by Pakistan was at its height, the Pakistan Army burned 50 km of forest in Mand and Tump. The same process was repeated in Gichak and Draski.
The ongoing war crimes of Pakistan across Balochistan are still not effectively being highlighted by Balochistan’s pro-independence political parties in front of the world, which is certainly a matter of grave concern. It’s required that the Baloch liberal leaders and Baloch activists in different organizations are given an effective strategy. Otherwise, even in this modern age, the crimes of the occupying state of Pakistan will continue to increase on Balochistan. At present the global situation is not in Pakistan’s favor and effective diplomacy to expose Pakistan’s war crimes against Balochistan must be our top priority.