Five of the nine people killed in the fake encounter in the so-called Ziarat operation by the Pakistan army have been identified.
The identification of the dead bodies kept in the Civil Hospital of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, continues. It should be remembered that a few days back, Pakistani forces conducted a military operation in Ziarat, district of Balochistan and claimed to have killed nine people in an encounter and declared them as BLA fighters. However, the BLA rejected this claim of the forces.
So far, five persons have been identified from the nine killed in the fake encounter as enforced disappeared persons who were already in the custody of Pakistani forces.
Among the first to be identified were Shams Satakzai and Shehzad Dehwar. Shams Satakzai was forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces five years ago in 2017 and Shehzad Dehwar who was abducted by Pakistani forces on 4 June 2022.
Later three more people have been identified, Engineer Zaheer Bangulzai son of Muhammed Akber resident of Quetta, Dr. Mukhtar Baloch son of Abdul Hai resident of Khuzdar and Salim Kareem Bakhsh resident of Panjgur.
According to family sources, Zaheer Bangulzai, was abducted by Pakistani forces from his office “Smartways Consultancy Limited Airport Road Quetta” on 7 October 2021.
Mukhtar Baloch was arrested from Musa Colony in Quetta on 11 June 2022 and transferred to an unknown location. Salim Kareem Bakhsh a student from Panjgur was forcibly disappeared by Pakistani security forces on his way to Quetta on 18 April 2022.
The recent fake encounter comes at a time when Baloch independence armed outfit BLA arrested a serving Pakistan Army colonel from Ziarat, Balochistan and later killed him.
It should be noted that such fake encounters have been reported many times earlier in Balochistan where the Pakistani forces have killed enforced disappeared persons already in their custody, such action of Pakistani state can only be described as revenge killing.
Such incidents often occur when Baloch independence armed groups carry out major operations where the Pakistani forces suffer heavy casualties or a senior officer is killed in the operations.
Baluch Sarmachar 