Pakistani security forces reportedly fired a mortar shell which hit a children’s playground in Hoshaap area of district Kech. The mortar shot resulted in killing two children and inuring another child playing in the ground. The injured was moved to the hospital for treatment.
Speaking to media at the hospital, Rahim Baksh Baloch, the uncle of the two deceased kids, said that the children were playing on the ground near his house when security forces fired a mortar shell at them from their check post. The shell landed in the ground, killing two children – both siblings – on the spot and wounding another. The deceased were identified as Allah Baksh s/o Abdul Wahid, Shararto d/o of Abdul Wahid and the injured child is identified as Muskan d/o Wazir.
Speaking to media at the hospital, Dr Laal Jan Baloch said that Muskan had sustained deep wounds on her chest and throughout her body. She has been shifted to the intensive care unit, but her condition is critical.
As the news spread in the area, members of the All Parties Kech reached the hospital to express solidarity with victims and their family members. The representatives condemned the incident and said that the Pakistan state is setting up an example of “barbarity and oppression.” They assured the family members that they will receive justice soon.
The Frontier Corps have denied the allegations levelled against them and said that they are not involved in the killing of two children. The family members of the deceased children are protesting on the Shaheed Fida Chowk in Turbat and demanding justice. Only a few days ago, a sit-in protest was carried out on this exact spot in the pursuit of justice for Ramiz Baloch, a ten-year-old child, who was killed during a raid on his house in Buleda.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee, a rights group, condemned the incident in a media statement and said that this is not an isolated event – such incidents continuously occur throughout Balochistan. The group said that security forces are not only violating the privacy of Baloch households with their rampant military operations but also killing people with little or no justification.
BYC said that the security forces and their protégé – the locally armed death squads – are directly involved in these incidents. The inhabitants of Balochistan, regardless of their ethnicity or profession, are falling prey to this practice.