Pakistan: Rights organization urges international media to cover brutalities in Balochistan

Quetta [Pakistan], August 1 : The situation in Balochistan continues to worsen as the Pakistani defence forces have brutally cracked down on the Baloch community, as they gathered across Balochistan for Baloch National Gathering.
The protestors allege that Pakistani defence forces are trying to stop them from participating in nationwide gathering, which hold the government and the defence forces accountable for their "brutality."
However, despite severe violation of human rights in Pakistan, the international media has cornered the issue of violence in Balochistan, according to protestors.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee, in a media statement, urged the international media to provide coverage to the issue.
"Balochistan has now become a completely war-torn region. And the Pakistani state is using all its machinery and power to stop this peaceful public gathering and is committing the worst human rights violations," the statement read.
Highlighting the ongoing human rights violations in Balochistan, the rights group said, "For the past 48 hours, the internet has been completely shut down in Gwadar and most parts of Makuran, while phone networks have been shut down since yesterday evening. A complete undeclared curfew has been imposed in Gwadar and nearby areas. No one is being allowed to enter or leave Gwadar."
The statement also elaborated on the atrocities Pakistani defence forces are inflicting on Baloch caravans that were travelling to Gwadar for a national gathering.
Reportedly, a Baloch National Gathering caravan, including thousands of people, departed from Quetta yesterday morning. They were stopped and obstructed by the Pakistani military, Frontier Corps.
The caravan reached Mastung after overcoming these multiple barriers, where the Pakistani military opened direct fire on the caravan, carrying hundreds of women and children.
14 participants were injured in this barbarism, three of whom were critically injured and are now receiving treatment at the Quetta Trauma Centre.
Following this, the military forces burst the tyres of all the convoy's vehicles, rendering them useless, and shattered the windows with direct fire. The caravan intended for the Baloch national gathering is currently holding a peaceful sit-in in Mastung.
The BYC further alleged that peaceful protestors were raided in Balochistan and several have been "forcibly disappeared," while others have seen them being booked in false cases.
"To sabotage the Baloch National Gathering, in the past week, peaceful activists preparing for the national gathering have been raided in various parts of Balochistan. Five people from Karachi and several from Quetta have been forcibly disappeared, and several false FIRs have been registered against peaceful activists in various parts of Balochistan," the statement read.
Terming the entire Balochistan region a "war zone," the BYC urged global media houses and journalists to respect journalistic values and principles, and cover the issue.
"For the past 48 hours, the entire Balochistan has been a war zone, but it is deeply regrettable and a matter of shame for the journalistic community that none of the so-called Pakistani mainstream media and journalists has uttered a word about this serious issue, but are all criminally silenced. We appeal to all media houses globally and journalists to respect journalistic values and principles to provide coverage of the war-like situation in Balochistan, the complete curfew in Gwadar, and the severe brutality and oppression by the Pakistani state," the statement added.