Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations has claimed that the Pakistani forces have killed six “pro-independence” fighters in a firefight in tehsil Buleda, district Kech, on Wednesday. The ISPR claimed that the said fighters were involved in the recent attacks on Pakistani forces in Panjgur and Noshki.
ISPR, the media wing of Pakistan’s military, said that the Pakistani security forces conducted an operation in Buleda, based on information of the presence of a hideout of the “terrorists” in there. ISPR said that the operation aimed “to apprehend [the] externally sponsored enemies of peace in Balochistan.”
ISPR said that when the Pakistani forces started the clearance operation, the “pro-independence” fighter attempted to escape and a firefight broke out. Resultantly, the six fighters were killed.
ISPR also said that a cache of weapons and ammunition was recovered from the hideout of the fighters.
Baloch “pro-independence” groups have not yet commented on the ISPR’s claims.
It is pertinent to mention that the Pakistani officials have made similar claims of killing Baloch “pro-independence” fighters and ISIS operatives during operations in Balochistan. But subsequent investigations have shown that the slain individuals were actually Baloch missing persons who were reportedly “abducted” by the Pakistani forces from different areas of Balochistan.
Baloch human rights activists and nationalists claim that the Pakistani forces kill the Baloch missing persons on the point-blank range and then portray them as “pro-independence” fighters. The victims are not actually fighters, but innocent civilians who were picked up during raids and military operations.
In March 2021, the Counter-Terrorism Department of Pakistan, the so-called “encounter specialists”, claimed of killing five members of the Baloch Liberation Army during a confrontation in Mastung. It was later revealed that the five victims were actually Baloch missing persons. Two of them, Sami and Jamil Pirkani, were arrested on fabricated charges and proved innocent in subsequent court hearings. But they were rounded up with three others and killed with impunity.
Later in June, CTD once again claimed that it had killed four “pro-independence” fighters during a firefight in the mountainous Marwar region of Bolan, but these claims were also repudiated when it was shown that the victims were Baloch missing persons.
Outside of Balochistan, five members of the Bugti tribe were killed in an alleged fake encounter by the Punjab Police in the Rajanpur city of Punjab.
Numerous such incidents have been reported throughout Balochistan where innocent civilians have been killed on fabricated charges. It is suspected that the alleged “terrorists” that the ISPR claims were killed in Buleda might also be Baloch missing persons.