Balochistan: Harnai killings latest in series of army atrocities

Four persons of a family were killed by the Pakistani military in a raid in the Nishpa area of Harnai, Balochistan, on Monday. Two men of the family were also whisked away by the forces.

According to details, the military stormed the house of Qaisar Marri and sprayed his huts with bullets in the early morning raid. As a result, Marri, his daughter, daughter-in-law and six-year-old granddaughter Naz Bibi were killed. Gul Dad Marri and Mohammad Ali, the two sons of Marri, survived the attack, but the security forces abducted them. They remain missing.

Harnai has witnessed such military operations in the past too. On August 16, 2017, army helicopters indiscriminately bombed Shahrag village in the district. Eleven people, including four women and an infant Minu Bibi, died in the bombing. Minu Bibi was only five. The women were identified as Jafar, Bibi Makhmal, Khat Khatoon and Bibi Bano. They belong to the same family of Yar Mohammad Chalgari. The other deceased were identified as Kalo, Limo, Haji Banzu and three brothers, Dil Wash Washu, Afzal Washu and Rahmdil Washu. Their elder brother Sabzal Washu was forcibly disappeared by the forces in 2016. His whereabouts are still unknown.

On August 17, the next day, the forces abducted 25 people, including seven women and children from the same village of Shahrag. During the operation, two women Mehr Bibi and Jan Bibi and two children Akhtar and Amanullah were injured. The abductees were identified as Bangad Khan, Najeeb, Khair Mohammad, Shah Dad, Mistaag, Jalal Ahmed, Ghulam Haider, Jandho, Dostain, Toakali, Ramzan, Ali Bakhsh, Baloch Khan, Rehman, Qaiser and Muneeb. Ramzan Ali Bakhsh and Rahman Noor Ali were tortured to death and their bodies were dumped the next day, on August 18. Ramzan was handicapped and couldn’t move from his bed.

On September 3, 2017, four mutilated bodies were found in Harnai. Three of them were identified as Mistaag Moldad, Johndo Dostain and Bangar Marri. They had been abducted by the security forces from Shahrag during a military operation on July 24, 2017.

Human Rights Council of Balochistan (Hakkpaan) is a non-profit and non-partisan human rights group based in Balochistan and Sweden. It collects reports from Balochistan, a region Pakistan government does not allow any media and HR group to visit and report. Human rights violations in Balochistan is not a new phenomenon, but it got its worst levels after the Military coup de tat of Pakistan in 1999. Thousands of Baloch have been reported missing, hundreds killed in fake encounters and so-called kill and dump policy of the military. HRCB collects the data from Balochistan itself, through its network of volunteers and supporters, organizes and reports them to the human rights mechanisms of the world.