Pakistani forces accused of assaulting Baloch woman

Quetta, Aug 25 (IANS) Sammi Deen Baloch, an activist of the human rights organisation Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), on Monday accused the officials of Pakistan's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of brutally assaulting a Baloch woman who tried to prevent the forceful abduction of her brother from a street in Karachi, finally leading to his enforced disappearance.

The CTD officials allegedly beat the unarmed woman with batons and sticks, injuring her as she resisted their attempt to take her brother, Sadiq Baloch, away illegally.

Sharing the video of the assault on her social media page, Sammi said that the scene represents the reality of those hundreds of homes in Balochistan where mothers, sisters, and daughters stand firm against Pakistani authorities to protect their loved ones, but in return, they received only violence and wounds

"The violence inflicted upon Sadiq Baloch's sister represents that broader state oppression which is being unleashed upon the Baloch daily. Thousands of young people were abducted and disappeared without a case. Often, there is no news of their return, and if there is, it comes in the form of mutilated corpses," she posted on X.

“Another serious aspect of this incident is that this brutality, occurring in front of cameras, was also recorded; otherwise, the violence that takes place in the mountains and remote villages of Balochistan remains completely hidden from the eyes of the world. It is on the basis of these few recorded incidents that we raise this question: When the state itself treats its citizens savagely, holds their families hostage, and beats their women on the streets, then where exactly should the Baloch take their wounds?” the post added.

Raising concern, she questioned that, while Pakistan accused the Baloch of being anti-state, how can the people of Balochistan, who have been burying their kins for generations, whose youth are continuously being abducted, whose women are being beaten with batons, possibly remain silent.

Revealing another incident of enforced disappearance in Balochistan, Paank, the Baloch National Movement's Human Rights Department, mentioned that Pakistani military forces had forcibly disappeared three Baloch youth.

Among them, two individuals, Dad Kareem and Shoaib Ahmed, residents of the Gebun district, Kech, and from the same family, were abducted from Karachi on Sunday.

In a separate but equally alarming incident, the rights body highlighted that Usman Maqbool was forcibly disappeared by Pakistani security forces from Turbat, Kech.

Paank noted that Usman had previously been abducted in 2019 from the Pidarak area in Kech and was released after two years in 2021.

The rights body strongly condemned these unlawful abductions and views them as part of the systematic targeting of Baloch civilians by the Pakistani state.

--IANS

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