By Ahmar Mustikhan

A Baloch guerrilla organization engaged in a David-and-Goliath war against Pakistan army claimed killing more than a dozen soldiers of Pakistani occupation forces in four separate attacks in Mashkay Sangar daily reported.

Baloch Liberation Front spokesman Gohram Baloch called newspaper offices from an undisclosed location and owned responsibility for the attacks that it said killed more than dozen Pakistan soldiers and wounded.

The BLF said its sarmachars or freedom fighters launched four attacks on army convoys in Jhakki, Gwarjek Cross, and Malaishband.

The BLF attacks followed custodial killings of four Baloch youths who were taken away from the home of guerrilla leader Akhtar Nadeem in Gwarjek, Mashkay while President Xi was still in Islamabad.

Pakistani soldiers later handed over the four bodies to the civil administration saying they were killed in an armed clash. The victims were identified asIjaz Baloch and Aftab Baloch, sons of Fazal Baloch, and Basit Baloch, son of Lal Bakhsh Baloch. A fourth victim Shah Nawaz Baloch, son of Faiz Mohammad, was married just three days back and belonged to the pro-independence Baloch Students Organization Azad.

There have been a large number of incidents recently where Pakistani security forces killed the Baloch they abducted earlier and then the Pakistani media reports announced insurgents and “terrorists” were killed by the soldiers in armed clashes.

Three others: Mehbob Baloch, son of Yarjan Baloch; Sultan Baloch, son of Karim Baksh; and ten year- old Meerain Baloch, who were also abducted from the same home, are still unknown.

According to London-based Baloch Warna, which is run under the supervision of Baloch Liberation Army chief Hyrbyair Marri, Pakistani soldiers also conducted a military operation in Sinjavi, Pasni, and Dasht – ZarrenBugg regions of Balochistan,

In separate acts of military aggression, Pakistani security forces abducted at least 11 Baloch during a raid on a hotel near Hub town and Gaddani. Earlier Pakistan seized nine people from the same spot. Whereabouts of the 20 victims of enforced disappearances remain unknown.

Pakistan army — the No. 1 Muslim Army, Frontier Corps, ISI, Military Intelligence have been accused by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch of carrying out a kill-and-dump policy in Balochistan. Many victims of enforced disappearances are tortured, killed and their bodies dumped. Balochistan has replaced Argentine and Chile of the 1980s as the world capital of enforced disappearances.

Earlier the BLF launched a rocket attack on a camp of the Frontier Corps in Parom in Panjgur. The guerrilla organization led by gold medalist medic Dr. Allah Nazar said the BLF opened sniper fire on workers of the army-run Frontier Works Organization and killed two of its workers.

Pakistan has the world’s largest pro-Jihad army, which is mostly armed with US and Chinese weapons.

Earlier this week Chinese President Xi Jinping was in Islamabad to sign agreements 50 MoUs worth nearly $50 billion, including connecting the strategically sexy Gwadar port, on the Straits of Hormuz, with Kashghar.

President Xi’s original itinerary included a visit to Gwadar Port to inaugurate the Gwadar Port, but the security managers in Islamabad shot down the idea because of the armed uprising by Baloch guerrillas seeking independence for Balochistan.

In meeting with President Xi, Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain, whose family used to sell golgappas on Karachi’s Burns Road, assured full security to Chinese who come to work in Balochistan.

Army spokesman Major General AsimBajwa through a tweet announced creation of a Special Security Division for Pak-China Economic Corridor Projects. It will comprise of nine infantry and six armed police battalions, commanded by a Major General.

Meanwhile, London-based Hyrbyair Marri, who is believed to be operational head of the Baloch Liberation Army, condemned the Sino-Punjab schemes against Balochistan. “To protect their vested interests, the Punjabis have joined hands with China to accelerate the genocide of Baloch people,” he said.

Ahmar Mustikhan is a senior American Baloch journalist. He lives in the Washington DC area. He has worked in newsrooms in Pakistan, UAE and the US and had also written for The Week, Cochin and Mid-Day, Mumbai.