Quetta, Sep 4 (IANS) A leading human rights organisation on Friday strongly condemned intensified Pakistani military operations in the Zehri region of Balochistan’s Khuzdar district, alleging that one woman was killed and two others were injured in a drone attack on residential areas, while 25 civilians were subjected to enforced disappearance.
Citing sources, the Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) said that the woman who had gone to collect water was killed in the alleged drone attack by Pakistani forces and two other people, including another woman, were reportedly injured. It noted that the identities of the deceased and current conditions of the injured victims remain difficult to verify.
Referring to reports, the rights body further said that Pakistani security forces have allegedly taken 25 local residents into custody and forcibly disappeared them.
The incident comes amid a prolonged curfew in Zehri that has reportedly remained in place for several months.
“Mobile phone services have reportedly been suspended across Zehri because of the curfew, severely restricting communication with the affected communities. This communication blackout has made it particularly difficult to obtain reliable information about those allegedly subjected to enforced disappearance, as well as those reportedly killed or injured,” the BVJ stated.
Criticising the enforced disappearance of 25 people during the military operation and the reported killing of a woman, the rights body said, “Targeting civilians, subjecting people to enforced disappearance, and restricting access to information and communication raise serious human rights concerns and require urgent, independent investigation.”
The BVJ urged the United Nations and international human rights organisations to investigate the abuses in Zehri, demand information from the Pakistani authorities about the whereabouts and safety of all disappeared persons, while ensuring that civilians are protected from further harm.
In another incident in Balochistan’s Turbat region, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) described the arbitrary closure of roads which restricted the movement of citizens, and violence committed against the public by Pakistan’s Frontier Corps ( FC) as “extremely condemnable.”
The rights body said that to provide VIP protocol to social media influencers and content creators brought from Islamabad, the movement of people in Turbat was halted, and roads were kept closed for several hours. As a result, it said, thousands of citizens, including school-going children, patients, doctors, hospital staff, and businesspeople, faced severe difficulties.
“When patients and senior doctors raised questions about the road closures, they were subjected to violence by the FC; a rifle was pointed at one doctor, and he was threatened with being shot. Among the patients subjected to violence was also a pregnant woman. In protest against this incident, the public, patients, and hospital staff at Turbat Teaching Hospital boycotted their duties, demanding an end to the curfew-like situation and action against the officials who committed violence against citizens,” the BYC stated.
“It is highly alarming that resources are being spent in Balochistan to form so-called “fake narratives,” while ordinary citizens are being confined and deprived of their basic freedom of movement for the same purpose. Keeping civilian life in Balochistan under continuous restrictions and coercion in the name of security is unacceptable in any way,” it added.
–IANS
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