Quetta, August 14, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Human rights activist and Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) chief organiser Mahrang Baloch has condemned reported Pakistani airstrikes in the Gidar area of Balochistan’s Surab district, alleging that the bombardment was part of what she described as an ongoing “genocide” of the Baloch people.
According to reports cited in her statement, the Pakistani Air Force carried out bombardment in residential areas of Gidar in the early hours of Tuesday. The attack allegedly killed more than 30 civilians, including women and children, injured several others and caused extensive property damage.
In a statement issued from Huda Jail in Quetta and shared on X, Mahrang said that treating the killing of civilians through attacks on homes and populated areas as a routine operation could not be described as a military operation.
“If a state considers the mass killing of dozens of civilians, including children, resulting from bombing homes and populated areas as a routine operation, then this is not a military operation but genocide,” she said.
She also said protests and road blockades by residents of Surab following the reported airstrikes represented an expression of opposition to what she called attacks on the lives and property of civilians.
Mahrang alleged that Pakistan had maintained control over Balochistan for seven decades through what she described as “continuous oppression”. She said the model of governance had failed and that ordinary Baloch people continued to bear the consequences.
“The Baloch genocide is not merely an internal issue of Balochistan but a global humanitarian tragedy,” she said, adding that discussions about peace would remain “mere rhetoric” unless the alleged violence and its underlying causes were addressed.
She further alleged that curfews, military operations, enforced disappearances and mass killings had become routine in parts of Balochistan under the stated justification of security.
Mahrang also claimed that many such incidents were not reflected in Pakistani state media narratives, while residents continued to experience the consequences. She said policies that put civilians, particularly women and children, at risk should be rejected.
She called on people across Balochistan to protest against the reported Surab attack and resist what she described as continuing repression by Pakistani security forces.
The remarks come amid legal proceedings against Mahrang and other Baloch activists. On June 22, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced four activists, including Mahrang, to life imprisonment in a case concerning the killing of a Frontier Corps official. Human rights defenders and organisations have described the charges as false and politically motivated.
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