Quetta, August 29, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
A human rights organisation has condemned Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti’s warning that orchards in Mastung district could be demolished or burned and their owners arrested if private properties are allegedly used to facilitate militant attacks.
The Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) described the remarks as “deeply alarming and condemnable”, saying they raised serious concerns over the fundamental rights to property and livelihood.
Bugti made the remarks on Friday while speaking at an event at the Central Police Office in Quetta. He warned that orchard owners could be treated as facilitators if the provincial interior minister or security forces came under attack from inside orchards in Mastung.
According to the report, Bugti said the government would have two options if private properties continued to be used for militant activities: relocate residents on a large scale and resettle them elsewhere, or eliminate orchards allegedly being used for such activities.
The BVJ said threats to target civilians’ property and economic resources could amount to collective pressure and collective punishment, particularly against the backdrop of what it described as ongoing human rights concerns in Balochistan.
“Threatening to burn or demolish people’s orchards and arrest orchard owners would amount to collective punishment and a serious violation of civilians’ fundamental economic and human rights,” the organisation said.
It urged Pakistani authorities to avoid intimidating civilians or damaging private property and to protect the human, economic and property rights of residents in Mastung.
Separately, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) criticised the alleged occupation of agricultural land in Karachi’s Malir district by Pakistani authorities under the “Education City” project.
The BYC called the alleged forced evictions of the Baloch community unacceptable, claiming that the project puts around 20,000 acres across six Malir villages at risk. It further said more than 80 settlements, ancient cemeteries, historical sites and agricultural lands could be affected, while the immediate acquisition of nearly 1,000 acres posed a serious threat to the land rights of local residents.
FOLLOW NOW
