Tazeen Akhtar
Islamabad : 11 July 2025 @ 4 AM – In another terrorist attack in Balochistan, Punjabi travellers have been killed again at midnight of 10 and 11 July. Punjabis are continuously victims of target killings in this province where Game Changer CPEC culminates and where the government is repeatedly inviting international companies to invest in mineral sector.
Concerned authorities have no interest in what is happening with the families whose loved ones and bread earners are being killed for their Punjabi ID only in this Terror Ridden Province of Pakistan that is otherwise always boasted of “IN SAFE HANDS”
RECENT CHRONOLOGY OF KILLINGS OF PUNJABIS
23 Punjabis Killed on Raod in Loralai MusaKhel on 26 Aug 2024
23 passengers were killed after being forcibly offloaded from their vehicles by armed assailants.The attack occurred at a checkpoint set up by the armed men on the inter-provincial highway near Rarah Sham area of Khangri, about two kilometres from Dera Ghazi Road. The assailants forced passengers off trucks and buses and shot them after identifying them. The attackers also set fire to 10 vehicles before fleeing the scene.
26 Aug 2024 was the darkest day in the history of Balochistan !
The terrorists including Blochistan Liberation Army succeeded in conducting multiple attacks on civilians, uniform personnel , installations in disturbed largest province of Pakistan from the midnight of 25/ 26 August to day light on 26 killing at least 63 including police and army jawans, some sources say more than 70, most probably 74, setting ablaze 35 vehicles including trucks and loaders from Punjab and blasted a railway bridge in Bolan (Kacchi) disconnecting Quetta from the rest of the country.
Multiple Attacks in Balochistan – What , Where, How, Who, Why – by Tazeen Akhtar
7 Passengers Killed in Barakhan, Balochistan Attack – 19 Feb 2025
In a tragic incident in Barakhan, Balochistan, seven passengers from Punjab were murdered by armed men after their passenger vehicles were stopped on the national highway. The attackers checked their ID cards, identified their victims, and executed them in a remote area. Security forces swiftly responded, with an ongoing investigation and heightened security in the region.
8 Punjabi killed in Iranian province of Balochistan-Sistan on 12 April 2025
According to Iranian media reports, all eight workers – who belonged to various areas of Pakistan’s Punjab province and were working as mechanics – were tied up and shot dead. The Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA), a lesser-known Baloch group seeking independence from Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
NOT PUNJABIS – Children Killed on Road while returning from Army Public School
School going children bus was targeted in Khuzdar on 21 May 2025. 6 young girls including 2 sisters and 2 adults were among dead and multiple children had sustained injuries. 40 Children were on board. The bus was bombed at N 25, National Highway that is worth noting. Even the main highways are not safe in Balochistan.
On the latest terrorism on raods of Balochistan ! Spokesperson of Provincial gov, Mr. Shahid Rind shared the number of the victims as 09 but eyewitness says the number is 12. They are not serious in facing what is the challenge ! They are just pushing the dirt under the carpet.
The most tragic stories surfaced from Dunya Pur distric Lodhran South Punjab and Mian Channu.
Two vicitms are brothers from Dunya Pur South Punjab who were coming back home to attend the funeral of their father . Their names are Mohammad Usman and Mohammad Jabbir Toor. Their dead bodies were recieved by their mother who was already in shock for the death of her husband.
No gov or military official has visited the family. Yes ! their dead bodies were sent in coffins with Pakistani flags by the officials on duty in the place where they were killed for their ID Card only.
Father succumbed to the murder of son ; In a village Bindiyal 72/15 School Road of Mian Channu, 76 years old , already out of sorts, father Ghulam Sarwar succumbed to the news of the murder of his son Ghulam Saeed who was returning to see his father from Balochistan.
32 Years old Junaid , ID of Gojra, resident of Multan Road, Lahore was returning home after he dropped his wife and one minor daughter at the home of her father in Quetta. His father Iftkhar Ansari is a jounalist and member of Press Club Gojra. The terrorist took his life.
One killed is from Gujranwala. Sabir a worker and father of 3 minors, 2 sons and one daughter is also among the victim. A resident of Wahando area of Tehsil Kamunki has also become a target of terrorists in Loralai area of Balochistan. 40-year-old Sabir belongs to Saib area of Wahando.
According to his family, Sabir had been working as a cook in Quetta for the past 15 years. Martyr Sabir was returning to Kamunki to meet his children when the terrorists targeted him. Martyr Sabir was a father of 4 children and the sole breadwinner of the family.
He was not feeling well. He was about to get treatment from Ganga Ram Hospital Lahore.
Mohammad Asif Sahrani of Chauk Qureshy was school teacher in Balochistan. The terrorist did not let him go alive and meet his family.
Majid from Faisalabad is also among the murdered brutally with no direct enmity with the terrorists.
Bilal of Gujrat who came to Pakistan from Dubai on leave and travelled to Quetta to meet his friend. He was retruning to Gujrat but in the way, he too was killed and his dead body has been sent to his home.
The latest heinous act of terrorism on main highway has been committed in between Musa Khel , the entry point of Balochistan from Punjab, and Loralai. Two buses were stopped at the highway by the terrorists, who checked the id cards of the travelers.
” The terrorists spotted out 12 passengers who had id of Lahore and Punjab. They took them away and after some time we heard firing” a passenger shared on video statement in circulation on social media.
He said , then we have not seen those passengers and the bus was allowed to move from there. This eyewitness stated in his viral video that he survived because he held id of hazara region of KP Province.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, in late night, issued a ready made condemnation and rhetoric resolve that the terrorists are Indian sponsored who will be dealt with iron hand. He expressed sympathies with the victims and their families. He did not confirmed the number of innocent murdered only for their Punjabi ID in their own country.
Balochistan is the worst affected province with uncontrollable terrorism for long. The terrorists have conducted major attacks in last few weeks in KP and Balochistan. Interior ministries of both the province and the federation seem to have accepted the attacks as routine matter.
Balochistan Liberation Front , a terrorist organization has hit the length and breadth of the province in last couple of days from Madtaung to Punjgur and from Musa Khel to Kharan and Awaran. They have attacked on army camps and police check posts.
In Mastung, the terrorists burnt three trucks that were carrying the materials for CPEC. Many other trucks on trade travel have been destroyed.
Punjab Government on Killing of Punjabis
Information Minister Punjab Azma or Uzbma Bukhari said in a press conference , ” I do not want to say PUNJABI because it expresses BIAS.”
Someone should tell this lady that Punjabis are being killed for having ID of Punjabi and for being Punjabis ! They are killing Punjabis and you can not say it PUNJABI?
Further she tried to turn the topic towards human rights organizations and started criticizing them than state something solid and needful on the challenge to lives of the poor people of her province being massacred in Balochistan. She should say that Punjab gov will raise this issue with Balochistan Gov and Punjabis should be safe in Balochistan as the Balochis feel no fear in Punjab.
