Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain have separately criticised the reported airstrikes in the Gidar Goandhan area of Surab district, Balochistan, alleging that civilians, including women and children, were among those killed and injured.
Khan expressed concern over the aerial bombardment and claimed that several people had been killed and wounded. He criticised Pakistan’s continued reliance on drone strikes, military operations and other force-based measures to address militancy, arguing that such approaches had failed to resolve the country’s security challenges.
The former prime minister called for a broader political strategy involving public participation, political engagement and dialogue alongside security measures. He also criticised the policies of Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, arguing that continued military operations were resulting in casualties among security personnel and civilians and could contribute to further displacement and local grievances.
Khan said successive governments had relied on large-scale military operations for decades in an attempt to counter militancy but, in his view, had failed to eliminate the underlying causes of the conflict. He called for a sustainable political approach rather than a strategy centred primarily on military force.
Altaf Hussain also condemned the reported airstrikes, describing them as an act of state violence and alleging that more than 30 children, women and elderly people had been killed.
Hussain questioned the official account surrounding the incident, alleging that authorities had described the location as a site where militants were preparing explosives and that an explosion occurred there. He argued that reports of multiple explosions in residential areas were indicative of an aerial bombardment.
He also referred to a previous airstrike in Afghanistan and cited Amnesty International’s findings while questioning official explanations concerning civilian casualties. Hussain called on Pakistan’s authorities and military institutions to halt what he described as operations against civilians in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir.
The MQM leader further appealed to people in Punjab and elsewhere in Pakistan not to support violence against the Baloch people. He called for a symbolic blackout from 7pm to 9pm in solidarity with those he said had been killed in the Surab airstrikes.
The reported incident took place in the early hours of 12 August, when Pakistani Air Force jets were reported to have struck residential areas in Goandhan area of Surab’s Gidar town. Local accounts cited by the two political figures put the death toll at more than 20, including women and children, with at least 16 others reportedly injured.