The Baloch National Movement on Tuesday said that a strict curfew has been imposed for the past two weeks in Mashkay, an area of Balochistan’s Awaran district, leaving residents confined to their homes under what the party described as a “military siege”.
In a statement, the BNM spokesperson said markets, shops, hospitals and educational institutions in Mashkay remained closed, while residents were unable to go to fields, orchards or carry out other daily activities.
The spokesperson said Gajjar and other small markets were occasionally allowed to open under military supervision for only one hour during the day, adding that even this limited access was available only to residents of nearby settlements.
People living in far-flung villages, the BNM said, remained deprived of food supplies and other basic necessities, with families facing severe difficulties because of the restrictions.
The party said the curfew also continued during Eid, when residents were not allowed to leave their homes to buy Eid-related items or other essential goods. Because of the restrictions, the spokesperson said, most families were also unable to perform sacrifices on Eid al-Adha.
The BNM further alleged that Pakistani forces were summoning residents of small towns and entire villages to military camps in the morning and keeping them there until evening, where they were subjected to “mental and physical torture”.
The spokesperson said that last year alone, more than 20 people were killed in Mashkay after being summoned to camps or taken into custody and tortured, adding that several residents had also been killed this year after being detained.
He alleged that the treatment of residents had reached the point where, after detentions and killings, bodies were desecrated, adding that in some cases bodies were burned “to erase evidence and spread fear”.
The BNM warned international human rights organisations that the situation in Mashkay and other areas of Balochistan would worsen if what it called the “undeclared curfew” was ignored.
“If international human rights organisations do not take notice of the undeclared curfew in Mashkay and several other areas of Balochistan, the ongoing humanitarian crisis will further intensify,” the spokesperson said.
The party also appealed to Baloch political and human rights activists to raise their voices over the situation, calling on them to use the hashtag #MashkaiUnderSiege to highlight the crisis.
“We appeal to Baloch political and human rights activists to raise their voices on social media over the crisis in Mashkay using the hashtag #MashkaiUnderSiege and help highlight the situation,” the spokesperson said.
Pakistani authorities have not issued an immediate public statement on the BNM’s allegations regarding the curfew, detentions, torture or reported killings in Mashkay.