Quetta, Jan 16 (IANS) Violence against civilians in Pakistan’s Balochistan province continues to escalate, with a leading human rights organisation reporting the alleged extrajudicial killing of three more Baloch civilians by a Pakistan-backed death squad.

Paank, the Baloch National Movement's Human Rights Department, mentioned that the mutilated body of Mulla Razak was found dumped in the Semswari Koar region of the province on Thursday, just one day after his disappearance.

Citing local sources, the rights body stated that Razak was abducted by a death squad on January 14, without any legal warrant or explanation.

“The signs of severe torture on his body indicate that he was brutally killed in custody. This incident reflects the ongoing pattern of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan, where civilians continue to be targeted with complete impunity,” Paank stated.

Meanwhile, Paank also condemned the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing of Zohaib Ahmed by Pakistan- backed death squad, a graduate student and part-time shopkeeper from Panjgur district.

The rights body stated that on January 14, Zohaib’s mutilated body was recovered from the Bonistan area of Panjgur, bearing multiple bullet wounds and visible signs of severe torture.

According to Paank, Zohaib had reached the Municipal Committee Office in the Washbood region of Panjgur on January 13 for an interview when a white Toyota Corolla carrying masked armed men entered the premises. The assailants opened fire, injuring the gatekeeper, Muhammad Alam, before forcibly dragging Zohaib inside the office. Zohaib was reportedly brutally beaten and taken away by the armed group in full public view.

Highlighting another brutal killing of a Baloch civilian, the rights body stated that Zareef Baloch was detained from his medical store and extrajudicially killed on the same day by the death squad on January 14. Zareef was forcibly taken from his medical store by a Pakistan -backed death squad, and within 2 hours, his bullet-riddled body was recovered from the same area.

Balochistan has been reeling under the endless atrocities at the hands of Pakistani authorities, who facilitate death squads in the region to carry out enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and illegal detentions of Baloch people.

--IANS

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