The brutalities against the Baloch people has worsened in the past few weeks. "This is genocide against our people - Pakistan wants to annihilate us, leave no trace," Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti, President of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP) told The News Minute.
Nawab Bugti is the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti who was killed by the Pakistani army in 2006. Brahumdagh Bugti fled to Afghanistan where he escaped two assassination attempts on his life. He is currently an asylum seeker in Switzerland.
The Baloch issue was raised by New Delhi at the recently concluded UN Human Right Council (UNHRC) meeting in Geneva and also at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, where India highlighted the atrocities committed against the Baloch people who are seeking a separate state. Their plight was brought to light when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to it at his August 15th address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
Balochistan is a western province of Pakistan with Quetta as its capital. The region is rich in gas and oil. Leaders of the BRP feel that Baloch women and children are now being targeted.
But the story of the atrocities on the Baloch people has a long history, one which started as a political sham and continues as brutal, state-sponsored violence and terror. Here is the horrifying story of Balochistan.