Quetta, Aug 13 (IANS) Several Baloch activists and human rights bodies on Thursday strongly rejected the statement issued by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)- the official media and public relations wing for Pakistan’s Armed Forces — following the Pakistani airstrikes in Balochistan’s Surab, describing it as ‘false and fabricated’.
The criticism came after the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) attempted to downplay the Surab attack, which killed more than 30 civilians, including women and children, and injured several others, by attributing it to the premature detonation of a Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) allegedly linked to a militant group.
The incident took place in the early hours of Wednesday when the Pakistani Air Force reportedly carried out indiscriminate bombardment in residential areas in the Gidar area of Surab, killing civilians and causing significant damage to properties.
Slamming Pakistan’s official remarks, a leading Baloch human rights defender, Mir Yar Baloch, took to X and posted: “DGISPR, which serves as the official spokesperson for the Pakistani military, has long faced severe criticism over its misleading and fabricated statements and official positions regarding controversial military operations.”
“The Surab massacre was a planned act of collective punishment, and local residents of Surab stand as witnesses to the fact that the Pakistan Air Force deliberately targeted a civilian population under the cover of darkness, severely affecting an entire village and leaving its residents to bear the devastating consequences,” he added.
Human rights body Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) alleged that the DGISPR resorted to “extreme exaggeration” and made a failed attempt to construct a “so-called narrative” that contradicted the facts, apparently to conceal the ongoing “war crimes” in Balochistan by Pakistani forces. The rights body noted that the reality on the ground can no longer be concealed by “distorting the facts.”
Calling for an immediate, transparent, and independent investigation into the attacks in Surab, the BVJ said, “Independent observers and journalists must be granted access to the affected area, all available evidence must be preserved, and those responsible for the deaths of civilians must be identified and held accountable. No state institution should be allowed to target civilians and subsequently conceal the facts.”
The Baloch Students Organisation (BSO)-Azad also dismissed the remarks, stating that Pakistani media and the “puppets of its Government” keep absorbing the realities of Balochistan through “fabricated and polished narratives” of ISPR.
“The immoral state of Pakistan must be accountable for the destruction of civilian homes and massacre of women, children and elderly people. International Communities must take this massacre into account and concern the ongoing Genocide in Balochistan,” the BSO stated.
Meanwhile, a shutter-down and wheel-jam strike were observed across several districts in Balochistan on Thursday, expressing solidarity with the people of Surab and protesting against the aerial bombing of civilians, following a call by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC).
“The loss of civilian lives, destruction of homes, and suffering of families in Surab demand urgent attention from human rights organisations and the international community. Every civilian life lost is a human life, and every family shattered deserves justice and accountability,’ the BYC stated.
“This shutter-down is not an isolated act of mourning; it is a part of a growing movement across Balochistan demanding that the killing of civilians be met with accountability, not impunity,” it added.
–IANS
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