Update
Days after the deadly Sunday militant attacks in Balochistan, social media called on Baloch human rights activists to condemn the senseless and horrific violence committed against innocent people on August 26.
Mahrang Baloch, the chief organiser of the human rights movement Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), took to social media to announce that she “opposes any form of violence, regardless of ethnicity, race, political, or religious affiliation.”
Social media is divided on Mahrang’s post, with some pointing out that she did not name the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), the terrorist group responsible for killing innocent people.
However, many social media users also applauded her position calling it “brave and extremely responsible.”
Interestingly, former President Arif Alvi took to X, formerly Twitter, to write a comprehensive note welcoming Mahrang’s position: “I am certain that this group of activists with a huge following that is being led by this brave Baloch Pakistani woman are not terrorists. Stop labelling them as such.”
It should be highlighted when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was in power, then-Prime Minister Imran Khan drew widespread criticism in 2021 when he stated that he wouldn’t be “blackmailed into coming to Quetta” after the Hazara community refused to bury their loved ones killed in a terrorist attack.
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As Balochistan reels from a series of coordinated attacks across the province, which left more than 45 civilians and security personnel dead, a debate erupted among netizens on the matter of condemnation.
Social media wants condemnation of the terrorist organisation Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) from Baloch human rights activists and organisations for the senseless and brutal killing of citizens.
Many have called out the double standards of followers of Baloch human rights movements as terrorist groups like BLA continue to execute innocent citizens based on their ethnicity.
At least 23 people, mainly from Punjab, were killed in the Musakhel district of Balochistan early on Monday morning after armed men checked the identities of victims on buses and trucks, shooting them to death.
Imaan Zainab Mazari, a human rights lawyer, took to X (formerly Twitter) to chastise those demanding condemnation from Baloch rights activists. “Why would their peaceful efforts for human rights be undermined by actions of a group that has nth to do w/ them? This is exactly what the State wants – it wants to continue targeting peaceful dissidents because it clearly cannot (or does not want to) fight grps like BLA.”
Social media users pointed out that those who lost their lives to terrorism belonged to low-income groups and had left their homes in search of livelihood.
Senior journalist Abbas Nasir defended Mahrang Baloch – a prominent Baloch human rights activist, writing, “Those demanding Mahrang Baloch condemn yesterday’s bloodletting should first return her father to her and then make the demand by all means. Why should the onus of condemnation be on one woman struggling peacefully for her and her people’s rights.”
One X user posted an alleged picture of one of the victims, saying, “This is one of the victims. He was there to sell fruits as a lot of people from South Punjab go to these areas to sell fruits, but of course, the privileged aunties who are living outside Pakistan or living in their 2-3 kanal houses in their AC room in DHA would not know about them.”
Another social media user by the handle @bluemagicboxes said that labourers from Punjab travelling to remote Balochistan is ‘weird’ because it made no sense to leave their own communities with a constant threat to their lives.
The majority of people criticised this point of view, with one user writing, “Pakistani ‘Punjabi’ labour can’t leave their province for work-often compelled by political and economic realities- but Afghans should be allowed everywhere in the country, and their deportation is cruel. Make it make sense people. We can all see through your bias.”
Another user pointed out that the majority of labourers killed in Balochsitan were Saraikis, from South Punjab, an area with more poverty than the rest of the province.
Similarly, one social media user criticised this perspective by writing, “My father, a Kashmiri born in Nowshera and raised in different parts of Punjab, worked in Balochistan for three years. Do you think that his presence from one part of Pakistan to another part of Pakistan was “a little weird”? You aren’t fooling anyone.”
Muhammad Ismail, the father of prominent human rights activist Gulalai Ismail, took a relatively insensitive perspective on the incident, posting, “Why do these Punjabi barbers go to Balochistan in such large numbers?”
This tweet was about yet another dreadful incident in May of this year when seven barbers who belonged to Punjab were killed by unknown gunmen in a targeted attack.
The terrible incidents in Balochistan have struck the social fabric of Pakistani society, fueling divisions based on ethnicity and provincialism.
The human rights problems, including the missing persons issue, in Balochistan are genuinely concerning and must be addressed by authorities.
However, militant organisations targeting ordinary citizens after checking their identities deserve collective condemnation.
