Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about Balochistan in his Independence Day speech, Pakistan has been on the offense trying to put up a brave face and reject the claims made by New Delhi. This is because Pakistan has for long "successfully" hid the ground situation in its largest province from the eye of the world's media.
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While Pakistan projects itself as the 'Champion of the Kashmiri cause' on the world stage, highlighting the so called attrocities by India in Kashmir, Islamabad to a great extent been able to keep an uprising in Balochistan seeking independence go unnoticed by the rest of the world.?
With PM Modi reaching out to Baloch and highlighting the human rights violations in Balochistan, Pakistan feels it could be difficult to brush the uprising under the carpet. In the past both the government and the Pakistan army have gone to any far to silence those speaking up about the attrocities in Balochistan.
Dawn
That included an attempt to gag the media against reporting the attrocities there. The latest media house to face the wrath of Pakistani administration was Geo TV. Pakistan's biggest news channel was banned last month after it equated the situation in Kashmir with that of Balochistan. This was not first time, media houses and journalists were targeted for reporting on Balochistan.
For decades there is an uprising in Balochistan seeking greater autonomy and wealth share from its rich mineral resources. However it metamorphosed into an independence movement under the likes of Nawab Akbar Bugti who led an armed movement against Pakistan.
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He was killed by Pakistan army in 2006 in an operation ordered by then president Pervez Musharraf. While Pakistan expected the uprising to die down with the killing of Bugti, it only ignited the fire, resulting in violent protests ever since.
According to Baloch activists, there is an ongoing army operation in the province, where they allege that on a regular basis civilians get killed in these aerial attacks. Much like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in India, the Pakistan army is given a largely free hand in Balochistan. Anyone who is suspected of links with pro-independence groups can be picked up without any warrant. Activists say those picked up are later tortured into making submissions.
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Recently, exiled Bloch leaders had alleged that Pakistan army used chemical weapons against civilians. However this remain a claim that cannot be verified as Pakistan media rarely get free access to report from there. Baloch claim that this is all part of the systematic genocide Pakistan is carrying out in its largest province.?
One of the biggest issues Bloch activists have time and again tried to raise in the international forums is enforced disappearances. According to the international voice for Baloch Missing Persons (IVBMP) an organization working towards seeking details of those missing from the province, more than 15,000 people have become victims of enforced disappearances in Balochistan in the past ten years.
IVBMP
These are mostly youth, activists and intellectuals fighting for independence. Many have compared the situation with that in East Pakistan in 1971. While Bangladesh, then East Pakistan fought for independence thousands of intellectuals were selectively killed by Pakistan army to cripple the birth of the new independent country.?
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In 2013 led by Abdul Qadeer Baloch, better known as Mama Qadeer Baloch the IVBMP marched from Balochistan's capital Quetta, activists marched to Islamabad covering more than 2000 kilometers to petition the UN seeking the whereabouts of those went missing from the province.
While thousands who were arbitrarily picked up by army and intelligence agencies still remain untraced an alarming trend in Balochistan in the recent years is the discovery of mass graves. In 2014 one of the biggest of its kind was discovered in Khuzdar district.
Dawn
Many of the bodies recovered from the grave was identified as those went missing years ago. Many similar instances were also reported from across Balochistan subsequently. Almost all the bodies bear torture marks, which activists allege were inflicted by the army and intelligence agencies which picked them up. ?
A long standing accusation of the baloch activists is Pakistan's involvement in illegal organ harvest and trade of organs. They claim that the organs of all those went missing have been harvested and sold in the international market.
Baloch News Newtwork
They said even the bodies recovered were mutilated and vital organs were missing. But what is even more shocking was an European Parliament report in 2014.
It had concluded that the supplied human flesh were from the missing persons. Despite the gravity of the revelation, there was hardly any media coverage on this in Pakistan.
While Pakistan has a vibrant private media sector, there is an unwritten rule- don't mess with the army or ISI. Those defied this have paid the price. One of those was Hamid Mir, one of the most recognisable faces on Pakistani television. While he had been on the radar of the agencies for his reports on Balochistan, it reached a flashpoint when the IVBMP long march reached Islamabad in February 2014. Mir did the unthinkable invited Mama Qadeer Baloch and other leaders of the march to participate in his talk show Capital Talk.
Dailymotion
The reply came in the form of three bullets. In April while he was travelling through Karachi, his car came under attack from unidentified gunmen. Mir's family, Geo TV and later Mir himself pointed fingers at the involvement of ISI behind the assassination attempt.
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While Mir survived, the incident once again re-asserted the unwritten rule - don't report on Balochistan. ? ? ? ?
Knowing the power and influence of the Army, not many in Pakistan are taking the risk of reporting on Balochistan. This makes sure that any information that Pakistan wants to hide from the world hardly gets reported both in the domestic and international media.