In district Harnai of Balochistan, scores of civilians took to the roads to protest against the military operations, which have been rampant in the region. Pakistani security forces in the region clashed with the peaceful protestors and opened indiscriminate fire on them.
As per reports, a large convoy of the Pakistani security forces, consisting of thousands of soldiers, entered the Shahrag area of district Harnai for a military operation at 4 a.m. The locals resisted the imminent operation and stopped the security forces from entering their houses. The indignant security forces opened fire on the locals who retaliated by throwing stones at the forces.
Faced with overwhelming opposition, the security forces had to retrograde and abandon the mission. The authorities have not yet commented on the incident.
It should be noted that military operations have become the new norm in Balochistan. Almost every other day, news surfaces that the Pakistani forces have carried out a large-scale operation in some area of Balochistan. In these operations, the security forces reportedly detain tens of individuals at a time, and several of them remain missing for years. The Pakistani forces are also accused of carrying out human rights violations during these operations, like looting houses, violating women and children, exercising aggression on the householders and vandalizing their possessions.
In the majority of these operations, the advancing land forces are assisted by gunship helicopters in their mission. The choppers bombard a large stretch of an area at a time, razing several houses to rubble and killing tens of individuals.