Reports from Quetta confirm that an armed attack was carried out on Mir Ahmed Chiltanwal Sumalani, the chairman of the Sumalani Qaumi Tehreek, and his brother Zahoor Ahmed. Both sustained serious injuries and were shifted to a hospital in Quetta for medical treatment.
According to details, unidentified gunmen opened fire on the two brothers in the Nohsar area of Aghbarg, within the jurisdiction of Nohsar Police Station in Quetta district. Family sources have confirmed the incident.
Chiltanwal is also affiliated with the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), and sources close to the matter suggest that the attack may be linked to his recent participation in a sit-in protest by BNP-M in Mastung. The sit-in was staged against the illegal arrest of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) activists, including the prominent youth leader, Dr Mahrang Baloch.
The Mastung protest had also been the site of an attempted suicide bombing reportedly targeting BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal. The attack, however, failed to reach Mengal, who survived unscathed. The incident raised serious concerns among Baloch political circles, with many activists and nationalists openly accusing the Pakistani state and intelligence agencies of orchestrating the attack to suppress dissent and silence protests against enforced disappearances and illegal detentions.
In another incident, the previous week, the BNP-Mengal confirmed that the mutilated body recovered in Khuzdar on April 16 is that of the young son of Noor Ahmed Mengal, the party’s Khuzdar district vice president. Farooq Ahmed had reportedly been forcibly disappeared on April 14, and his tortured body was recovered two days later.
BNP-Mengal stated that Farooq’s father, Noor Ahmed Mengal, had been actively participating in the protest sit-in near Lakpass in recent days, which was held in opposition to the arrest of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders.
The BNP strongly condemned the killing of the party leader’s son.
It’s noteworthy that Pakistani armed forces and intelligence agencies have long been accused by both local and international human rights organisations—including the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch—of involvement in the enforced disappearances of Baloch political workers, students, and activists.
The latest attack on Chiltanwal, following these politically charged events, has further fueled suspicion and anger among Baloch nationalist groups, who see it as part of a broader campaign to intimidate and eliminate voices speaking out against human rights violations in Balochistan.