Repression in Balochistan: activist Mahrang Baloch arrested after clashes with police
After activist Mahrang Baloch was jailed on Saturday, her sister has complained on social media about the poor conditions of detention. Some families recently tried to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones, but Pakistani authorities claimed the bodies belonged to the Baloch terrorists responsible for the attack on the Jaffar Express train. The situation has degenerated with shots fired at unarmed protesters demanding the truth about missing persons. Meanwhile, protests continue in several cities in Balochistan.
Quetta (AsiaNews) – The repression by the Pakistani government in Balochistan is becoming increasingly harsh following the attack on a passenger train by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
About a week after the Jaffar Express incident, tensions between the local population and the police are high with clashes in the past few days leading to scores of arrests, including Mahrang Baloch. Born in 1993, she is a well-known human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize candidate.
On 20 March, some families visited a government hospital in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, to try to identify 23 bodies that had been brought in by the police. Following protests and clashes (police beat at least two women with batons), some five corpses were taken away.
The authorities claim the bodies belong to BLA fighters killed by police and recovered from different parts of the city.
In the following days, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), the main non-violent pro-Baloch independence organisation, held a series of rallies and sit-ins demanding the truth about missing people.
For some time now, local activists have been trying to turn the international spotlight on the enforced disappearances of young Balochis.
According to the “Voice for Baloch Missing Persons”, the bodies of about 1,500 people believed to be missing since 2009 have been found, while nothing is known about another 6,000, missing in some cases for decades.
Pakistani police met protests with brutality, some reports saying they opened fire on protesters, killing three people, including a 12-year-old child. Dozens were injured and ambulances were deliberately prevented from accessing the areas where clashes occurred.
The situation escalated last Friday after protesters staged new demonstrations showing the bodies of people killed by police.
Communications with the outside were suspended (making it hard to know what happened) while 150 people were arrested on terrorism charges, including Mahrang Baloch, BYC founder and leader.
Over the weekend, calls for strikes and closures were heard in several cities in Balochistan. In many, demonstrations continue demanding the release of the young men and women arrested.
Mahrang's sister, Nadia Baloch, complained about the poor conditions in which the activist was being held at the Quetta’s Hudda District Prison, prevented from speaking to her lawyer. Only yesterday was Mahrang able to get in touch with family members.
“Mahrang’s life and health are in serious danger as she is being held among dangerous, hardcore criminals. When she resisted this, she was threatened of solitary confinement,” her sister wrote on a social media platform.
“Surveillance cameras have been installed directly in front of her prison cell and washroom, and she is subjected to constant 24-hour monitoring. She has no privacy, even in personal matters, and has reported that her clothing choices are also being observed. The food provided is extremely unhygienic, and we fear it is contaminated,” Nadia explained.
“As a result, both Mahrang and Beebow have fallen ill. Despite this, they are not being treated. They are also not being treated as political prisoners and are being denied basic rights.”
Analysts agree that Islamabad's use of repression even against pacifist movements was and is a failure. The country’s new generations, witnesses to the violence by the military and disillusioned with the possibility of peaceful conflict resolution, feel increasingly attracted to the armed struggle against Pakistan.
The BLA (which last year alone claimed responsibility for over 300 attacks) and other independence movements in the province could find allies in other terrorist movements active in Pakistan – such as the Pakistani Taliban – also fighting the central government.
The uprising in Balochistan began in 1948, when the province was controversially annexed by Pakistan. Since then, several separatist uprisings have taken place, but since the early 2000s, groups of fighters have begun to organise themselves to wage a real armed struggle against the Pakistani state.
In recent years, violence has increased, Baloch fighters have managed to extend their reach and make their presence in the territory more visible.
Now, after targeting Pakistani and Chinese businesses, accused of exploiting local resources at the expense of the population, BLA fighters appear to have more ambitious goals.
The Jaffar Express attack, according to several commentators, not only showed the separatist group’s growing operational capabilities, but also marked a point of no return in relations between Islamabad and the Baloch population.
After the police crackdown, the government reported that 31 people had been killed by Baloch insurgents and 33 terrorists had been eliminated.
The BLA simply dismissed the Pakistani military's claims as false information, saying instead to have killed 214 hostages, mostly military and police personnel who were on board the train. In both cases, the numbers could not be independently verified. So doubts remain about the real extent of the attack.
In the meantime, the BLA continues to carry out attacks against Pakistani security forces. On 16 March, the Majeed Brigade, made up of suicide bombers, and the Fateh Squad, the forces specialising in guerrilla warfare, targeted a convoy in the city of Noshki, claiming 90 soldiers killed. The Pakistani military acknowledged five deaths.
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