Military operation in Bolan area of Balochistan continues for the fourth day today. The area is reportedly under complete siege by the Pakistan army.
The military operation in Bolan and its adjacent areas started on Sunday that continues to date. All traffic routes have been blocked and a large number of gunship helicopters were spotted hovering over these areas.
According to reports from local sources, the closure of all transport routes and curfew in the entire area has caused a severe shortage of food for the local population. The residents of the areas under siege are not allowed for any sort of movement and the sick are facing hardships for not being given access to medicines and doctors.
Local sources also reported heavy shelling by military choppers from time to time in the area. Local shepherds are being dragged from their homes in the hilly areas and put in front of firing squads, and it is possible that ordinary citizens will be killed by the Pakistan army and portrayed as Baloch fighters, residents of the area suspect.
The operation is launched in different areas of Bolan, Kaman, Yakho, Uch Kaman, Gumbadi, Darag Pirani, Saaro, and Buzgar, while today an increase in the movement of helicopters has been witnessed in the mountain ranges of Sibi as well.
on Monday, the media wing for Pakistan armed forces ISPR confirmed the operation in the area and said that the Pakistan army’s two SSG commandos were killed in the armed clashes with Baloch fighters. ISPR also claimed that four Baloch freedom fighters were killed, but the latter report has not been confirmed by independent sources yet.
On Tuesday, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) active in the aforementioned region claimed in a press release that BLA fighters have “foiled the aggression” of Pakistani forces in Bolan. “In multiple intense counteractions by BLA fighters, at least eight Pakistani SSG commandos were eliminated,” the group claimed.
It should be noted that the second wave of military operation in Bolan starts after BLA’s last ultimatum given to the Pakistan army for prisoner swap talks. BLA released a statement to the media on Friday last week giving a one-week ultimatum to the Pakistani authorities for prisoner swap negotiations till November 4. The group claims its fighters had cornered two Pakistani agents – Kaleem Ullah and Muhammad Faisal Basheer – in an intelligence-based operation in the Harnai district of Balochistan, on the night of September 25, 2022. The two prisoners were brought before the “Baloch national court” where it unanimously decided that by following the international laws of war, as enshrined in the Third Geneva Convention, the two prisoners would be swapped with the Pakistani state for detained Baloch political activists.
After the aforementioned incident, the Pakistan Army launched an operation where one of the two helicopters participating in the operation was reportedly shot down by armed men. The “pro-independence group” BLA accepted the responsibility of detaining the mentioned persons, attacking the coal trucks, and shooting down the helicopter in a statement.
It should be remembered that Baloch nationalist circles and various human rights organizations have repeatedly accused the Pakistani army of bombing civilians in rural areas of Balochistan in the name of operations against Baloch insurgents. Various circles allege that civilians killed or detained in such operations by the Pakistan army are mostly portrayed as insurgents.