Amid mounting tensions in Pakistan’s Balochistan, security forces stand accused of summarily executing two civilians, bypassing courts entirely. Thursday’s revelations from a respected rights body expose a province under siege by targeted hits and disappearances.
Paank, BNM’s rights division, reported Balach Khalid’s slaying in Turbat, Kech district, on Wednesday. Masked gunmen on bikes, flagged as a Pakistan-endorsed ‘death squad,’ riddled him with shots and fled. Khalid’s backstory is harrowing: first grabbed October 25, 2023 (freed 25 days on), re-vanished to CTD cells, released; survived dual prior ambushes by the squad.
February 3 saw 60-year-old Babu Atta Mohammad Badini shot dead by army fire in Nushki’s Kili Kazi Abad—a stark reminder, per Paank, of routine deadly force on innocents.
That same day, army men snatched 15-year-old Hassanan Baloch from Quetta. Paank’s landmark report ‘A Year of Repression: Balochistan 2025’ tallies 1,355 abductions, 225 executions sans trial, aerial terror on villages, rigged laws quashing rallies, and info clamps on grieving kin.
Balochistan’s human rights emergency demands urgent scrutiny. With separatist undercurrents and resource disputes, these killings risk broader instability unless addressed head-on.