Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti said in the first part of his talk that Balochistan is burning since the forceful occupation by the Pakistani state in 1948. Five major military operations had been launched by the armed forces of Pakistan and the latest of them still continues full-fledged. During this period of 66 years, Balochistan has suffered from gross human rights violations by the Pakistani forces which have been getting worse and accelerated with the passage of every single day. While talking to the press he further says, There have be assaults on civilian populated areas, heavy bombardments of villages of innocent Baloch civilians with fighter jets, tanks, helicopters and heavy military artillery.
There have been lootings and burnings of houses, brutal killings of innocents including women and children, and arbitrary abductions of the people during military operations in every nook and corner of Balochistan. The abducted people get shifted to military torture cells at unknown locations and are subjected to inhumane and worst torture the human history has ever witnessed. The abductions or the enforced disappearances by Pakistani forces in Balochistan mainly target the cream of the Baloch society i.e. the educated youth, political activists, teachers, lawyers, poets, intellectuals and enlightened people belonging to every walk of life.
After detention of weeks, months ,and most of the time, years, the abducted people are brutally killed in custody and their bodies are found every next day in different parts of Balochistan, he added. Describing the state atrocities in Balochistan, he said that Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International had termed these killings as “Kill and Dump” policy, a policy adopted by the Pakistani state and its forces to literally wipe out the very existence of a nation, the Baloch nation. Adding he said, more than 140,000 Baloch people have been killed by Pakistani forces during military operations and other state atrocities in Balochistan since 2006. 20,000 Baloch civilians and activists have been abducted by the secret agencies of Pakistan and 24,000 people, majority innocent women and children, have been killed by the Pakistani armed forces only in 2013.
All this is happening while United States and the western world gives millions of dollars aid to the Pakistani state in the name of war on terror every year. All those military and financial aids are used by the Pakistani forces to brutally crush the Baloch people’s peaceful and democratic struggle instead of being used against terrorism. US made jets are bombing Baloch villages instead of the terrorist hideouts. We appeal to international powers especially the US to immediately stop every kind of financial or military aid to Pakistan. Baloch people have been calling for help from the civilized international community and their Human Rights institutions but no heed was paid to their cries no matter how grievous and heartbreaking they were.
Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti urging civilized world has said on january 25, a shepherd in Tootak area of Khuzdar district of Balochistan saw remains of human bodies in an abandoned place. He informed the locals who rushed to the sight and witnessed two mutilated dead bodies. On suspicion of presence of more bodies, they started digging the place where 13 dead bodies were found. Later the number of dead bodies found in one grave, or a mass grave, raised to 15. People searched for more bodies and at least three mass graves were discovered containing 17, 08 and 78 dead bodies separately. Chemicals were used on the bodies to mutilate them and so that they could not be identified. When informed, the Pakistani forces ran to the site and forced the locals to leave and surrounded the area. The people have informed that a total of 169 dead bodies were recovered from the mass graves but the number could be much more as the searching and digging was continue when the personnel of armed forces arrived and sieged the area.
The discovery of mass grave raised the fears of the families and relatives of Baloch missing persons who have been abducted by Pakistani forces. A large number of family members gathered outside the hospital, where the dead bodies were shifted, to identify if those were of their abducted loved ones but instead of cooperating with them, the Pakistani forces baton charged against them and forced them to leave. He added “On the question if the dead bodies found in the mass graves were of the abducted Baloch people, the Pakistani government officials responded with blaming it on foreign intelligence agencies as usual. It has become a part of the very root of the Pakistani mentality to blame foreign elements for the misdeeds of their governments and the atrocities of their armed forces against innocent civilians in Balochistan” Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti He further said that on the face of the blatant lies by the Pakistani officials, three dead bodies were identified as those of Qadir Baksh Baloch s/o Meskan Baloch, Mohammad Naseer Baloch and Mohammad Umar Baloch. The three were identified only by the identity cards found inside their pockets and other bodies remain unidentified to this day as they were mutilated beyond recognition but there is no doubt that the others are also of those abducted by the armed forces and intelligence agencies of Pakistan.
The place where the mass graves were found was an abandoned camp of Pakistani forces and their death squads where they used to torture the abducted Baloch people and secretly bury them inside mass graves. At least 20,000 Baloch people are missing after being abducted by Pakistani forces and intelligence agencies and more than 800 people have been resurfaced as bullet-riddled and mutilated dead bodies within last decade. He further said that there was high possibility that there are more mass graves in different parts of Balochistan and that most of abducted people have been killed and buried in those mass graves. In fact this is not the first incident of discovery of mass graves in Balochistan.
On March 25, 2011, a mass grave containing six dead bodies of the abducted Baloch men was discovered in Machi Gorani area of Sui, Dera Bugti. The mass grave was coincidentally discovered by a local shepherd a day after the bodies were buried. The bodies were clearly identifiable and were identified as those of Ali Baksh Bugti, Shah Baksh Bugti, Iqbal Mazari, Kohdil Bugti and Khetran Bugti. Kohdil Bugti was a leader of BRSO,a Baloch student organization and all the men were among the 19 people who were abducted during a military operation. He said “We especially urge the international media to send their correspondents and teams to Balochistan and get access to the war zones of the region and report and expose the war crimes of Pakistani forces committed there on daily basis. If the Pakistani state denies access, then a proper media campaign must be launched to denounce the state suppression of media and masses”
While adding he said that the Baloch people demand urgent attention from the civilized world. The champions of Human Rights, civilized countries, international institutions of justice, the international media and all the civilized people of the world should play their part to stop the slow but steady genocide of the Baloch people. The Human rights are for all humans and the Baloch people are humans and should equally enjoy the rights. The right to live, the right to self-rule, the right to development and the right to freedom.
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