Women: The War Survivor
Author: Ruzn Baloch
“One of them told me to undress, but I said no. He hit me and pushed me to the ground; it was the same man who had sat my house on fire. Then he raped me. The other soldiers stood around and watched. He told them to rape me too and I was raped again.” These are the words of Raana, a war survivor of 1995; Srebrenica massacre, Europe’s darkest chapter since World War II.
The genocidal rape of Bosnian by Serbs during the Balkan conflict gave birth to many children, who were of Serb militants.
Similarly in Bangladesh, according to a report of HuffPost, The Liberation War of Bangladesh with Pakistan resulted 200,000 – 400,000 Bangali rape victims, who were also then brutally killed after rape. After being assaulted and impregnated by Pakistani soldiers, the Bangladeshi women also committed suicide due to mental torture or were ostracized by society.
A dispute started in 2012 in Myanmar due to nonacceptance of Rohingiyas as lawful citizens and it took the leap in 2016 when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked 30 police posts and army base in Rakhine State, Myanmar. This was the day when war began. Subsequently, the Rohingiya community was targeted by state forces.
According to the 2017 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, A 15-year-old Rohingya girl told HRW that soldiers stripped her naked and dragged her from her home to a nearby tree where about 10 men raped her. Reportedly, Myanmar army raped thousands of women only in 2016 to 2018; two years of incursion.
Similar war crimes are prevalent in Balochistan too. Balochistan is one of the richest land in its region, full of minerals and is known for its deep ocean.
The Baloch land is a conflict zone since 1948 when Pakistan occupied Balochistan, and the Baloch are fighting since then for their national identity.
Every war changes its hue as per time and same the Baloch war did, starting from 1948 till now, the face of war is totally different and the tactics of Pakistani state have also been changed.
In the beginning, the Pakistani state abducted men to counter the Baloch movement, and now they are illegally detaining the Baloch women too to counter the movement.
Baloch women have been abducted by Pakistani forces since 2004 in Marri and Bugti areas, but we had no source of contact to know the details. The state started the barbaric acts in Makkuran since 2014.
Many women were abducted by the forces and had been released after few days but no one told us the inside story as the victims were threatened by the state forces.
In 2018, a woman from Mashkay, Awaran died due to inflection of extreme torture by Pakistani forces in torture cell. We have serious concerns that the women are being sexually assaulted, but the story behind the torture cell is not being narrated.
Till today, many women like Noor Malik and others are under illegal custody of Pakistan Army, we have concerns of sexual assaults, as we know the worse survivor of any war is the women, either it’s 1945 or 2016 , either it’s Bosnia, Bangladesh, Myanmar or Balochistan, the tyrant plays the least tactic to rape women, it’s the most easy way to counter the movements.
The Baloch war is not for dominance but for the national identity. We urge the world to intervene in Balochistan and don’t let the worse history of Bangladesh repeat.
The tyrants have no respect for women and we are deeply concerned about our women.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Balochistan Post or any of its editors.