LONDON: The spokesperson for the Free Balochistan Movement (FBM) has termed the killing of innocent Baloch prisoners in Pakistani military torture cells through staged encounters as war crimes. He stated that Pakistan, to conceal its weakness and psychological defeat in the face of the Baloch freedom struggle, is proving its enmity toward the Baloch by martyring abducted Baloch youths under the pretext of fake encounters in its torture cells.
The spokesperson further emphasised that after being unable to confront Baloch freedom fighters on the battlefield and suffering a humiliating defeat, the occupying Pakistani military killed previously abducted Baloch political prisoners during detention and threw their bodies in remote areas. These prisoners are often held for years in torture cells, and to hide their nefarious actions, the Pakistani military falsely presents the deaths of these Baloch individuals as encounters, which violate international laws and war values.
The spokesperson of FBM added that, as the Pakistani military becomes helpless in the face of the intensity of the Baloch freedom movement, it is venting its anger and thirst for revenge by killing innocent Baloch political prisoners, falsely labelling them as casualties of fake encounters, to maintain the morale of its military personnel.
He also stated that recent successful attacks on the Pakistani military by Baloch fighters in Balochistan have significantly lowered the morale of the Pakistani forces. In this state of confusion, unable to find another way out, they are now targeting Baloch prisoners and innocent civilians in an attempt to save their military from disgrace and embarrassment.
The FBM rejected the recent claims of the Pakistani military regarding the martyrdom of four Baloch youths in Shaaban, near Quetta during a gun battle.
According to FBM reports from family members and local Baloch media sources confirm that these youths had been abducted months earlier from various parts of Balochistan by the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies. These youths were then taken from torture cells and martyred in a staged encounter.
It is important to note that two of the martyrs, Shahzaib son of Rehmatullah and Naeem son of Nooruddin, were abducted on January 7 and 2 this year, respectively, from Killi Khairullah and Kharot Abad, both residents of Dasht Kambila area.
The other two martyrs, Hafiz Mohammad Tahir son of Hafiz Mohammad Akbar and Zubair Ahmed son of Abdul Samad, hailed from the Gidar area of Surab. They too were abducted by the Pakistani military and ISI in November of the previous year.
The party spokesperson further added that the occupying Pakistani state has no regard for moral traditions or the international laws of war. The actions of the occupying state reveal that the Baloch nation is facing a lowly and mentally disturbed enemy that is ignorant of all international and humanitarian laws and values of warfare.
In Baloch folklore there is a saying: “O God, if you give me an enemy, may he/she be a dignified one,” because a dignified enemy resists war and emotions with honour and restraint, being aware of not only the values of resistance and politics but also trying to uphold them until the very end. This is in stark contrast to the actions of the Pakistani military, which after subjecting innocent and ordinary political prisoners to years of inhumane torture in its prisons, resorts to fake encounters to settle scores and martyr them. The actions and warfare tactics of the Pakistani occupying military resemble the behaviour of a gang of thugs who, seeking vengeance, can martyr any unarmed and defenceless individual.
The FBM spokesperson further added that the way Pakistan is accelerating the killing of missing Baloch individuals in staged encounters, including collective punishments, indicates that it has stepped up its policy of genocide against the Baloch nation. The families of political prisoners and those involved in the Baloch freedom movement are now being targeted more aggressively to pressure them into abandoning the Baloch struggle for independence.
To thwart this nefarious action of the occupying Pakistani forces, the Baloch nation has to speed up the process of unity and solidarity within their ranks, prioritising the collective Baloch interests above the individual and factional interests.