Security raised against Baloch nationalists

Staff Report

Abu Dhabi: Pakistani security forces have expanded their operation against Baloch nationalists with further
reinforcement of paramilitary troops in Wadh township, the headquarters of the Mengal tribe.

According to Sardar Akhtar Mengal, President of Balochistan National Party (BNP) and former chief minister of
Balochistan, his father Sardar Attaullah Khan Mengal's ancestral house, which is called the House of Peace, in
Wadh has been besieged and is now under paramilitary troops' control.

"A major operation has been launched with a house-to-house search and almost all the male members of
families present during the search have been detained and their whereabouts unknown. "The entire Wadh and
nearby villages have been turned into a prison. Hundreds of people have been taken away by intelligence
agencies during the search," Mengal told Gulf News from Karachi.

He said the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF), Police, Balochistan Reserved Police and contingents of Frontier Corps
were visible defending all the utility services, schools, hospital, basic health units and other government offices
and installations. According to reports, schooling and healthcare system have been suspended as teachers and
doctors were away from duty for want of personal security of their lives.However, the government has repeatedly
denied carrying out a military operation, saying only miscreants are being targeted.

Mengal said the operation was launched after BNP supporters and other tribesmen took out protest rallies and
blocked the RCD (Regional Cooperation for Development) Highway, which links Karachi with Quetta and the rest
of northern Balochistan, Afghanistan and Iran. During the protest rallies, called to protest the siege around the
houses of Baloch nationalist leaders' houses in Karachi, tribesmen also attacked an army convoy, killing and
injuring a number of personnel.

"There is a shortfall of food and other essential commodities of daily use following the siege of Wadh town," said
Mengal.
He further added the township has been completely sealed and local residents have had their water and food
supplies cut off.

The homes of Mengal and his brother Javed Mengal in Karachi were also under siege from April 5 to 15. The
siege on the two houses was lifted on Friday following the need for deployment of security forces in troubled
areas of Karachi after a bomb blast that killed about 50 people.

After lifting of the siege, Mengal told a press conference his life and lives of his colleagues were under threat.
Mengal has appealed to the superior courts to take notice of the lawlessness and illegal detention of hundreds of
people by law enforcement agencies in Balochistan. His elder brother Assad Mengal, a political activist of Baloch
Students Organisation, disappeared during Baloch uprising in 1970's and since then nothing has been seen or
heard of him. (This para was not printed due to space shortage.)



Nissar Hoath, Sr. Staff Reporter
GULF NEWS
www.gulfnews.com

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Baloch Society Of North America (BSO_NA) Baloch Society Of North America (BSO_NA) is Non-Profit Organization, working to unite and Organize all Baloch in North America, to expose the Occupation of our land (Balochistan)  and  exploitations of our resources by  Pakistani and Iranian Governments, and to bring their Human Rights Violations in Balochistan into the world’s Notice.