Washington, DC – Following embarrassments in Kashmir and Afghanistan, Pakistan appears to be imploding, with the military waging war on its own citizens, resulting in widespread human rights violations. In the restive province of Balochistan, the army is using war-grade weapons against native Baloch who are marching to Gwadar to attend the Baloch Raaji Moochi, or National Convention. According to social media, the army has shot and killed over 50 Baloch people and injured up to 400. To deter Baloch activists from attending the national convention, military personnel kidnapped over a thousand of them, including many women.
The grand convention aims to raise awareness about basic human rights violations, enforced disappearances, and unjustified resource exploitation. In the name of Chinese security, Pakistan’s military has declared Gwadar a no-go zone for ordinary Baloch. The indigenous Baloch people, who have lived on this land for thousands of years, now need a permit from the Pakistani military to enter their ancestral territories. The Chinese are developing Gwadar’s airport, deep seaport, and special economic and industrial zones. The vast majority of Baloch oppose Chinese infrastructure development and mineral extraction projects that are being carried out without their consent.
These demonstrations have been ongoing for months in various parts of Balochistan and Sindh provinces. Many protesters claim that the Pakistani military kidnapped, tortured, killed, and committed other unconstitutional acts against their loved ones. The civilian government, which remains subservient to military leadership, is unable to address the Baloch people’s legitimate concerns. In the past, the army overthrew civilian governments for attempting to establish constitutional supremacy and control over the military.
The officials accuse the detained Baloch activists and students of attacking military convoys, equipment, and installations. Despite repeated requests from the judiciary, the military has failed to bring the kidnapped Baloch to court. The military’s policy of defying the judiciary by engaging in unconstitutional kidnappings, torture, and killings demonstrates a lack of evidence to back up its claims. Furthermore, it shows a disregard for the country’s judicial system, with judges too afraid of the military generals to charge and arrest them for contempt.
In neighboring Iran, the government and military commit similar crimes against their Baloch citizens, who make up the majority in the eastern province of Balochistan va Sistan. Over the last six decades, Iranian regimes have arrested and killed tens of thousands of Baloch people for seeking fundamental rights.
North of Balochistan, the Pakistani military is attacking and killing Pashtuns in KPK province for allegedly aiding the Taliban. Pashtuns, like Baloch, are marching for peace and reconciliation in various districts of KPK, urging the military to end kidnappings, torture, and cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians. Despite peace calls, law enforcement shot and killed several peace marchers, including children, in Bannu.
The Pashtuns also urged Pakistan’s government to resume travel and trade across Afghanistan, as the border closure has had a negative impact on local livelihoods. Over the years, military operations have displaced millions of Pashtuns to other parts of the country, including the Karachi megapolis, in search of shelter and employment. Manzoor Pashteen, a well-known Pashtun leader, says that Pakistani accusations are hollow because Pashtuns regard the Taliban as an adversary and consistently condemn and protest its crimes against women and minorities. He claims that Pakistani and American leaders imposed the Taliban on the people against their will. Pashteen has called for a grand national convention on October 11 to rally the masses for freedom.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani military has launched a massive counter-terrorism operation across the country, which has now expanded into Gilgit-Baltistan, a constitutional part of India occupied by Pakistan. The operation killed and injured locals in the Diamer district. The Pakistani military commander stationed in Gilgit claims that Diamer residents support the Taliban and shoot at Pakistani soldiers conducting operations in their neighborhoods. While speaking with Diamer residents, he threatened to demolish their homes for not cooperating.
For decades, the people of Gilgit Baltistan have condemned the military’s highhandedness and demanded their withdrawal. Both Shias and Sunnis believe that terrorists are outsiders who have been trained in Pakistani camps. They argue that the Pakistani establishment uses sectarianism to divert attention away from encroachment on their lands and illegal exploitation of their natural resources. They claim that the vast majority of those arrested for terrorism are environmental and cultural activists fighting to protect local lands and identity from Pakistani and Chinese encroachers.
Shias in Gilgit Baltistan criticize Pakistani rulers for imposing strict religious restrictions in the name of protecting national interests. Attacks on Shia religious institutions and blasphemy cases against Shia individuals have increased dramatically in recent months, raising concerns about their safety and survival.
A few days ago, the government prohibited students from holding Imam Hussain Day at Gilgit University and detained the organizers. Imam Hussain Day is an annual event that brings people from all religions together during the holy month of Muharram. This is an urgently needed activity to restore religious harmony in a region like Gilgit, which has suffered from decades of demographic engineering and Shia genocide. However, while local unity benefits the indigenous rights movement, it also harms Pakistan’s strategic interests.
During Muharram, Quetta’s Hazara neighborhoods were cordoned off due to fears of anti-Shia attacks. This ghettoization for public safety has had long-term negative consequences for local children and the adult workforce. In previous years, many Hazara Shias were attacked and killed when they left their neighborhood to visit hospitals and markets.
This Muharram was particularly heavy for residents of Parachinar district, where Shia-Sunni clashes consumed the lives of approximately 50 people and injured over 150 others. According to locals, the conflict began over a piece of land in Bushaher village. Both Shia and Sunnis accuse Pakistan’s military of complicity in prolonging the conflict.
Imran Khan’s PTI and Shia party MWM share power in the KPK province. However, the civilian government has no writ in the districts bordering the Durand Line. The army controls all roads and strategic points in Parachinar. Infighting among tribes yields significant political and strategic advantages to the military, which has heavily encroached on local forests and mining sites.
Both the All Pakistan Newspapers Association and the Council of Newspaper Editors claim that the military censors news from Gwadar, Parachinar, Gilgit and Bannu. According to BBC Urdu, law enforcement ordered two Baloch newspapers to stop covering the Baloch national convention.
According to journalist Iftikhar Firdous of the Khurasan Diary, the mainstream media has implemented self-censorship to avoid the scourge of Pakistani secret service agencies. Sindhi journalist Veengas claimed that authorities forced Facebook to remove one of the links she posted about government brutality in Balochistan. The Federal Union of Journalists has condemned authorities for withholding revenue from the Intakhab newspaper after it highlighted Dr. Mahrang Baloch’s leadership role in the Baloch convention and protests.
Terrorism against ethnic nations and minorities will persist as long as the military controls national religious discourse and runs civilian institutions, including the media. The military shields and nurtures Pakistan’s fifty thousand or so Islamic madrasahs, which regularly produce recruits for terrorism in Afghanistan and India.
The state-approved syllabi and curriculum instill extreme hatred and anger toward Ahmadis, Shias, and non-Muslims to prepare young minds for Holy War. The masterminds who profit from social polarization turn a blind eye as anarchic madrasa cadre attack and murder Shias, Ahmadis, Hindus, and Christians with impunity.
Pakistan will continue to be an abattoir for Shias and non-Muslims as long as these madrasas function as terror recruitment and training facilities. Pakistan’s allies, including the United States and China, have failed to persuade the Pakistani military to close Islamic madrasas. All of the money Pakistan receives from other countries for literacy promotion and capacity building goes to these madrasas. Killing the terrorists is a highly lucrative business, and this enterprise will fail without a steady supply of new fighters from madrasas.
The Pashtuns, Baloch, and the people of Gilgit-Baltistan have recognized that sectarian and tribal clashes are symptoms of a larger national survival issue. They must continue to work, with or without international assistance, to drive Pakistani military forces out of their territories to save their nations.
Senge Sering
Senge Sering is a native of Pakistan-occupied-Gilgit-Baltistan and runs the Washington DC based Gilgit Baltistan Studies
