Residents of Gwadar have accused Pakistani armed forces of subjecting local people to “humiliating” treatment during visits to Koh-e-Batil, saying the behaviour has become increasingly intolerable.
Locals said people going to the area for recreation are routinely met with inappropriate conduct from personnel on duty, including in front of women and children. They said such actions have deeply wounded the self-respect of residents who have lived in the region for centuries.
They appealed to senior officials of the Pakistan Navy and Maritime Security Agency to instruct personnel to treat local people “with kindness and within the bounds of decency”, warning that a continued pattern of misconduct could provoke a public reaction.
Residents said they felt they were being treated as security threats in their own ancestral lands. “If anyone feels threatened here, they should leave Gwadar,” one resident said, adding that local people would not tolerate what they described as the “ongoing humiliation of the population.”