Another innocent bloodbath — this time in Zhob, where passengers aboard a bus were shot dead in cold blood. The attackers? Once again, members Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF).
Both Baloch Liberation Army and Baloch liberation front have been targeting passengers, Baloch Intelligentsia, students, community leaders and state Machinery.
But the more disturbing pattern is not just these brutal attacks. It’s the absolute silence that follows — from Amnesty International, from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), and from the usual club of “left-leaning” journalists and activists in Pakistan who claim to fight for human rights.
Where Are the Tweets Now?
Where are the hashtags? Where are the fiery threads, the op-eds, the press conferences?
Activists like Imaan Mazari, and many others who never miss an opportunity to speak on enforced disappearances, alleged torture, or state violence, are always vocal when they can point fingers at the state. But when BLA executes laborers, or BLF blows up buses full of passengers, their timelines go eerily quiet.
This is not just oversight. It’s a pattern — a carefully crafted narrative where only one side is condemned and the other is conveniently ignored, no matter how many innocents they kill.
A Question of Agenda, Not Justice
These so-called human rights defenders aren’t neutral observers. They are increasingly seen as operatives of a specific, politically-aligned agenda. They speak loudly only when the story fits their ideological framework — and stay silent when it doesn’t. Why?
Perhaps because condemning BLA or BLF doesn’t win them awards. Perhaps because it doesn’t get them foreign fellowships, international speaking tours, or NGO funding. Or maybe, just maybe, it risks upsetting the very donors and networks they rely on.
But one thing is clear: this isn’t activism. It’s selective propaganda, dressed in the language of rights.
The Falsehood of the “Progressive” Voice
The Pakistani public is not blind. It sees how the so-called “progressive” or “liberal” voices in our media and civil society are quick to speak up for those accused of terrorism — but fall completely silent when terror is unleashed by separatists in Balochistan.
You’ll never see them naming BLF or BLA. You’ll never hear them calling their actions what they are: acts of terror. Instead, they’ll continue to distract with half-truths, vague condemnations, or complete silence.
This is not progressivism. This is not human rights work. This is intellectual dishonesty—and it is dangerous.
Who Speaks for the Victims of BLA & BLF?
Who speaks for the Hazara miners slaughtered in cold blood?
Who speaks for students like Mansoor Kakar, an 11-year-old kidnapped and murdered by militants?
Who raises their voice for the bus passengers gunned down in Zhob?
Certainly not the activists who cherry-pick their outrage.
The Time for Pretending is Over
If you claim to stand for human rights, then you must condemn all violence, regardless of who commits it. If you can’t call out terrorist organizations like BLA and BLF, you have no moral authority to lecture anyone about justice.
Your silence is not neutral — it is a signal of allegiance, perhaps purchased, perhaps rewarded, but absolutely not rooted in principle.
And the people of Pakistan are watching!
