Quetta, Aug 2 (IANS) A leading human rights organisation has criticised Pakistani authorities for the military siege and curfew in Noshki district of Pakistan’s Balochistan, terming it a “continuation of the state’s policy of collectively punishing the Baloch people”. It urged the international community to take notice of the situation in Balochistan, especially Noshki, and play an effective role in ending the state’s unchecked power and grave human rights violations.
In a statement on Sunday, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) stated that the military siege, curfew, house raids, and enforced disappearances in Noshki over the past six months “represent a systematic state policy of collective punishment against the Baloch people” to suppress political consciousness, social life, and national resistance.
“Even after six months have passed, the continuous extension of the curfew—instead of restoring normalcy—serves as clear evidence that the state of Pakistan seeks to maintain its authority through violence, brutality, and siege. Noshki has effectively been turned into an open prison, where labourers, daily wage earners, students, patients, women, and children have all become targets of state policies,” the BYC mentioned in a statement on X.
According to the statement, the sources of livelihood have been shut, movement has been restricted, access to healthcare and food has been disrupted, and people in Noshki have been forced to live in a state of fear and uncertainty. The BYC termed the deprivation of people’s basic necessities of life as the “most egregious form of collective punishment and a blatant violation of fundamental human rights.”
The BYC alleged that the large-scale raids, mass arrests and enforced disappearances conducted by Pakistani forces in Balochistan in recent days have further exacerbated the situation in Noshki. Several people have been arrested and taken to different places while a number of people have been forcibly disappeared during raids in houses, according to the statement. The BYC alleged that enforced disappearances, military sieges, curfews, and collective punishment are different facets of the same state policy.
In the statement, the BYC said, “In Balochistan, brutality and coercion have replaced the rule of law, the constitution, and judicial processes as the means of governance. These policies, in reality, reflect the state’s political failures, its deprivation of public support, and its helplessness in the face of growing public awareness. Today, Noshki stands as a living testament to the state-imposed coercion, collective punishment, and ongoing violations of human rights prevailing in Balochistan.”
The BYC urged the United Nations, global human rights organisations and the international community to take immediate notice of the military siege, enforced disappearances, and collective punishment policy currently underway in Balochistan, especially in Noshki, and play an effective role in ending the state’s unchecked power and grave human rights violations. It urged the international community to increase pressure on Pakistan to ensure the protection of Baloch people’s lives, property, freedoms, and fundamental human rights.
–IANS
akl/uk
