Pakistani forces’ mortar shelling in Balochistan kills child, injures several: Rights group

Quetta: At least one child was killed, and several others were critically injured in Balochistan after mortar shelling by Pakistani forces on unarmed civilians in Kech district, a leading human rights organisation said on Monday. Condemning the incident, Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s Human Rights Department, mentioned that the brutal attack on November 29 ruthlessly killed 13-year-old Yasmeen, daughter of Nasir, and inflicted grievous injuries on three others, including 11-year-old Durdanag, daughter of Khalid; 12-year-old Tahira, daughter of Khalid; and 18-year-old Asiya, daughter of Shamby, in Garhook Bazaar, a small town in the Hoshap area of Kech.

According to Paank, Yasmeen succumbed to her injuries after being transferred to Karachi for emergency treatment, while Tahira suffered severe fractures to her leg and backbone along with shrapnel wounds. The other victims were treated for the injuries, underscoring what the rights body described as “callous brutality” inflicted on innocent families.

“This monstrous attack is a manifestation of Pakistan’s ongoing genocidal campaign against the Baloch people, where state-sponsored death squads and frontier corps perpetrate indiscriminate terror, shelling residential homes and shattering civilian lives with impunity. Such atrocities, deliberately targeting children and non-combatants in populated areas, amount to war crimes and flagrant breaches of international humanitarian law, fueling widespread fear, instability, and psychological trauma in a region already ravaged by enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and collective punishment,” Paank stated.

“In the context of escalating insurgent attacks on Pakistani forces in the area, these reprisals against civilians only exacerbate the cycle of violence, yet Pakistan’s military continues to operate without accountability, violating obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights treaties,” it added.

Paank called for urgent international intervention from the United Nations Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch to investigate these crimes against humanity, impose targeted sanctions on Pakistani perpetrators, and support the Baloch people’s right to self-determination. The rights body stressed that the global community can no longer ignore this bloodshed and that justice for Balochistan is overdue.

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Expressing grave concern over the incident, Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) said the attack on a residential area reflected a broader pattern of violence by Pakistani authorities consistently reported by residents following similar incidents. “Civilian populations, particularly women and children, continue to bear the brunt of indiscriminate force, collective punishment, shelling, and intimidation. These repeated incidents have contributed to widespread fear, instability, and psychological trauma throughout the region,” the BYC noted.