At least 60 people were reportedly detained in a massive military operation in Gichk area of district Panjgur, Balochistan, on August 11. 25 detainees, women and children, are still held incommunicado – their whereabouts and physical conditions remain unknown, human rights activists have said.
In a Twitter thread, Bibi Gul Baloch, a human rights activist and the chairperson of the Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB), said that the Pakistani military raided and burnt down several villages in Gichk and detained more than 60 people. Some of the detainees were released, but a considerable number of women and children are still unaccounted for.
She said that the disappearance of these people should have been a matter of concern for everyone, but because the victims are from Balochistan, “silence has always remained the ultimate response.”
The ‘abductees’ of the military operation include:
Zar Bibi Durra
Razia Atta Muhammad
Duri Sabir
Shaari Durra
Shabana Durra
Tahmul
Noor Zaib
Tahmul and Noor Zaib are seven and three-year-old minors respectively.
Ms Baloch said that after the Sami, Dasht, Hosha, Balgatar and Shapuk, the people of Gichk will soon be forcibly displaced from their villages due to the construction of the road under CPEC project. “So far the CPEC project has brought devastations in our lives including forceful displacement, enforced disappearances & killings”, she said.
She urged the United Nations to question Pakistan over its ‘inhumane’ treatment of the people of Balochistan and its violent suppression of dissent in general. She also asked the UN to send a fact-finding mission to Balochistan to probe the situation, as the “local remedies has [sic] failed to provide safety & security.”