Daily Times

Baloch protestors camped outside the National Press Club for over a week in December 2023 to meet their demands, which included the recovery of allegedly forcefully disappeared Baloch individuals. Meanwhile, former caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar announced, “We continue to respect their right to protest because their loved ones have disappeared.” However, people should be aware that they (the terrorists) were battling the state in Balochistan with RAW backing. It is an armed insurrection with foreign support.”

According to the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, Balochistan has around 7,000 missing persons. However, the Commission of Inquiry noted that there are only 454 active cases in Balochistan as of October 2023. Former CT PM Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, who himself is from Balochistan, recently stated that there are just 50 incidents of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, according to the UN working group. Kakar has previously stated that the figures are “exaggerated.”

In actuality, the majority of the missing people were slain in bomb blasts, target killings, ethnic and sectarian violence in various parts of Pakistan, all orchestrated by the Indian RAW and its allied militant outfits, mainly the Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. In the case of Balochistan, everyone knows that the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and another group, Jundallah (God’s troops), who have been fighting for the province’s secession, get logistical backing from the hostile agencies and RAW. Their militants kidnapped and murdered numerous innocent individuals and security personnel in the province, claiming responsibility. Since 2001, the bulk of Pakistanis have travelled to Afghanistan without alerting their families, and many have joined Jihadi groups.

The majority of the missing people were slain in bomb blasts, target killings, and ethnic and sectarian violence.

During a raid last year, the Sukkur Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) apprehended a suspected terrorist named Ghaffar Domkey, who was affiliated with the proscribed BLA. While the security forces stated in their remarks on June 18, 2023: “In a successful intelligence-based operation on the night of June 16th and 17, they killed most wanted TTP terrorist commander Zafar Khan alias Zafari and two of his group members in Darra Adam Khel, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa”.

Previously, the arrest of key Balochistan separatist leader Gulzar Imam alias Shambay, the founder of the proscribed Baloch National Army (BNA), was a major blow for terrorist groups and their handlers in Balochistan. Imam’s arrest was also a major victory for Pakistani intelligence agencies-Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) – following an exceptional intelligence operation by the country’s chief intelligence agency ISI, which apprehended him when he was living under the protection of hostile external intelligence organizations.

Shambay addressed the media on May 13, 2023, urging all rebels operating in Balochistan to surrender and live a peaceful life. He denounced all forms of armed struggle, as well as foreign assistance for insurgents. It is worth noting that India openly opposed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is part of China’s OBOR or BRI.

The Gwadar seaport project, which is the backbone of the CPEC, will benefit the impoverished people of Balochistan as well as growth in other backward areas of the province by resolving problems that hostile elements supported by the US and India do not desire. And the country’s defence forces and the ISI have successfully broken the back of foreign-backed terrorists.

Pakistan’s defence forces had incredible success during the multiple military operations-Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad, which began against militants in North Waziristan Agency and then expanded to other tribal areas – and have nearly fulfilled their goals. However, recent terrorist incidents, particularly in Balochistan, demonstrate that these external intelligence agencies are destabilizing Pakistan and attempting to undermine the CPEC. Furthermore, despite Islamabad’s efforts concerning the Doha Agreement and aid to Afghanistan, the interim Afghan government failed to prevent cross-border terror strikes in Pakistan.

These attacks have exposed the biased propaganda of enforced disappearances against the security agencies of Pakistan. These civil society groups often prompted by the Indian government and dis-info labs, have acted as political arms of terror groups like BLA. Terrorists like Kareem Jan killed in the Gwadar authority attack and Abdul Wadood killed in the Mach attack were mentioned in the enforced disappearances list. This list with exaggerated numbers, on the one hand, is being politically exploited by Baloch nationalist leaders to bargain for political goals while on the other hand civil society groups use it to create rhetoric and malign the state of Pakistan internationally.

Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of the state to ensure the protection of human rights in Balochistan and provide the youth of Balochistan with better alternatives to opt for in life. The dire condition of infrastructure and other state-backed facilities including health and education are a reality but nothing justifies an armed struggle against the motherland. The Youth of Balochistan should engage in political processes to highlight their deprivations. Because history has proven that violence only breeds violence and it is through non-violent political struggles that vulnerable groups were able to achieve better socio-political and economic rights.

The writer is a student, a research fellow at a think tank in Germany and an intern at the Kashmir Institute of International Relations. He can be reached at Ali7664556@gmail.com