Pakistan’s Silent War
The year 2014 was bleak. We had the rise of ISIS, the fighting in Ukraine, the bloody continuation of the Syrian civil war, and the complete disintegration of Libya. To top it all off, the Mexican drug war escalated.
And that’s just the stuff you heard about. Behind the scenes and under-reported by the media, many further serious conflicts took hold—and are continuing even now, out of the spotlight.
Balochistan is marked as No. 1 under-reported conflict by the writer. Here we present to our readers the Balochistan part of the article.
Pakistan’s Silent War
Balochistan, an area across the Pakistan-Iran border roughly the size of France, has been dying for independence since 1947.
Over the last few decades, Pakistan has been tolerating a paramilitary “pick up and dump” policy against the Baloch. The methods are depressingly simple. Anyone spotted inside the territory can be abducted, tortured, and disappeared, their body often surfacing years later in a mass grave. The BBC estimates several hundred to several thousand Balochs have vanished this way, apparently with the blessing of the government.
The result has been a cycle of violence, as Baloch youth respond to these attacks by taking up arms. In April 2014, members of the United Baloch Army bombed a market in Islamabad, killing 25 bystanders and injuring dozens. Only days earlier, helicopter gunships had attacked a village in Balochistan, killing 40 people.
As bad as this already is, it might be about to get even worse. A Baloch commander reports that ISIS fighters are being trained in the region to attack the Balochs. If this is true, what’s already a messy conflict may be about to get a whole lot messier. Where that leaves the future of Balochistan is anyone’s guess.
Morris M is a freelance writer and newly-qualified teacher, still naively hoping to make a difference in his students’ lives.
Countess: LISTVERSE
To read the full article click HERE
Baluch Sarmachar 