A 22-year-old Baloch woman was critically injured after Federal Constabulary (FC) personnel opened “indiscriminate fire” in the Balgatar area of Balochistan’s Kech district on 8 December, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) said on Tuesday.
The woman was identified as Durdana, the wife of Nazir Ahmed and a resident of Sahaky village in Balgatar.
According to local sources cited by the BYC, Durdana had entered her kitchen to prepare the evening meal when she heard gunfire outside and felt something strike her body. Her uncle later confirmed she had been hit by a bullet and was bleeding heavily.
Her family transported her to the District Headquarters Hospital in Kech around midnight. Doctors there advised an urgent X-ray but, due to a lack of adequate facilities, referred her to Karachi for further treatment, the BYC said.
The group accused Pakistani forces of “routine indiscriminate firing” in residential areas, saying multiple checkpoints have been established in the locality and drone surveillance is often conducted.
“This indiscriminate firing by Pakistani forces on local residents is a daily routine practice. They have staged checkpoints inside residential areas, operate surveillance drone cameras, and sometimes open direct firing,” the BYC said.
Pakistani authorities have not issued any statement regarding the incident.
Human rights groups and local residents say women and children have increasingly been caught in crossfire, shelling and raids carried out by Pakistani armed forces in in Balochistan’s remote areas.
On 29 November, several mortar rounds struck a house in Hoshab, seriously injuring four girls. One of them later died while being transported to Karachi for treatment.
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