Pakistan: Balochistan govt suspends 44 employees for participating and facilitating protest sit-in against killing of Balaach Bakhsh

Islamabad [Pakistan]: Amid the ongoing Baloch protest in Islamabad, the Balochistan government has suspended 44 government employees in Turbat and Kohlu, including some officers, for allegedly participating in and facilitating a protest sit-in and rally against the alleged killing of Balaach Mola Bakhsh, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.

The commissioner of Makran Division has issued an official notification confirming the action against 30 government employees from various departments in Turbat. According to the officials, the decision was taken during a recent meeting of the district intelligence coordination committee.

During the meeting, these officers were identified as providing support to to the participants of the anti-government sit-in and protest rally, according to Dawn report.

According to the notification, based on the recommendations of the meeting, the commissioner has suspended 30 employees from grade 1 to 15 and disciplinary action has been initiated against officials of grade 16 and above through letters to the secretaries of concerned departments.

In addition, 14 government employees in the Kohlu district were suspended for participating in the sit-in and supporting the long march participants when it reached Kohlu in December, Dawn reported.

According to the notification, the action against these government employees were taken under the Balochistan Employees Efficiency and Discipline (BEEDA) Act, 2011, Dawn reported. Most of the employees against whom disciplinary action has been initiated belong to the education department, serving as teachers in various schools.

Notably, the long march started in Turbat after the extra judicial killing of Balaach Baloch with other three in a fake encounter of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). The authorities handed over the bodies to the families. However, Balaach’s family did not accept the body and took the body to Shaheed Fida Chowk for protests, The Friday Times reported.

Balaach’s family requested that the city police to accept their FIR. However, the police refused to register the FIR. Then, the protestors increased and they took the protest to different areas of Turbat to let the residents join the protest, The Friday Times reported. However, this protest changed into a long march demanding end to Baloch genocide. Under Baloch Yakjahti Committee – Kech, the protestors announced a long march against the Baloch genocide.

On December 31, Baloch activist Fazila Baloch has said that it is “heartbreaking” to see the sister of Balaach Baloch getting emotional as she remembers her brother, who fell victim to a “staged encounter” by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Turbat.

She shared a video that showed Balaach Baloch’s sister crying as she remembered her brother. In the video, the woman cried, said “You killed my Balaach” and asked “What was my Balaach’s crime.” The video showed Baloch activist Mahrang Baloch hugging and consoling Baloch’s sister as she cried inconsolably for her brother.

While sharing the video on X, Fazila Baloch stated, “Heartbreaking .. “I just saw him, he was in the crowd.” Overwhelmed with grief, sister of Balaach Baloch, who fell victim to a staged encounter by the CTD in Turbat, Balochistan couldn’t hold back her tears.”

Meanwhile, Mahrang Baloch, the face of the Baloch movement, vowed to continue the ongoing protest and said that they are ready to make all kinds of sacrifices for the cause.

In a social media post on X, Mahrang Baloch said, “If this state thinks that we will be afraid of Islamabad Police’s threatening tone, torture and arrest and end our protest, then this is a childish thinking of the state. We have shouldered the mutilated bodies of our loved ones in Balochistan, we have buried the bodies of ten of our youth together, we have spent our childhood in deep pain and sorrow waiting for our loved ones, we have lost our mothers.”

She added, “We have seen the suffering that is unspeakable, we have seen the miserable lives of orphans And you are trying to scare us here with torture and arrests, to scare those who are afraid of losing something with torture and arrests. We have lost everything, everything we loved was what you took from us now we have nothing to lose. We will continue this struggle until the complete end of Baloch genocide and are ready to make all kinds of sacrifices for it.”

Moreover, the protesters also shared that the state administration is prohibiting food, tents, sound systems and other facilities in the cold weather at the protesting site.