Balochistan [Pakistan], November 7 : The cycle of extrajudicial killings in Balochistan has deepened, with four more men, among them a former paramilitary soldier and a teenage student, reportedly killed in Kech district.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has blamed Pakistan's armed forces and state-sponsored militias for what it termed part of an ongoing "kill-and-dump" campaign targeting civilians, as reported by The Balochistan Post.
According to The Balochistan Post, the victims identified as Abdul Khaliq, Najeebullah, Bahad Baloch, and Abdul Rehman were slain between October 28 and November 2 in the areas of Dasht, Tump, and Dehaat. The BYC stated that these killings fit into a recurring pattern of state-backed violence used to suppress dissent in the province.
Abdul Khaliq, formerly with the Frontier Corps, was abducted from Dashti Bazar on October 28 and found dead in the Kech River days later, his body bearing gunshot wounds and marks of torture. The BYC alleged that Khaliq had resigned after refusing to take part in abuses against detained Baloch civilians and was later targeted for his defiance.
In another case, Najeebullah, a 31-year-old school staff member, was reportedly gunned down by unidentified men travelling in a white Toyota Corolla near Miri Link Road, a vehicle the BYC associates with state-sponsored militias.
On November 1, labourer Bahad Baloch was killed in the Dehaat area while transporting oil near the Gwadar border. The attackers allegedly robbed him before shooting him dead, later attempting to stage the murder as a suicide by leaving his body in a mosque, as cited by The Balochistan Post.
The final victim, 16-year-old Abdul Rehman, was fatally shot inside a shop in Tump on November 2, allegedly in front of his father. The BYC described him as a bright student during school holidays.
Calling the incidents a continuation of Pakistan's "policy of impunity," the BYC urged human rights groups to investigate a systematic campaign of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions in the province, as reported by The Balochistan Post.
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