Forced Eviction of Baloch Families from Shorparud Is Sheer Brutality; Government Should Stop Displacing Its Own Population — Pashtunkhwa NAP

Quetta — In a press release from the provincial secretariat of the Pashtunkhwa National Awami Party (Pashtunkhwa NAP), the party strongly condemned actions forcing thousands of Baloch families to leave their ancestral land in Shorparud, Kalat district, threats to evict them from their homes and lands, and measures plunging the local population into fear and panic.

The party believes that expelling any nation from its historical homeland, destroying its economic and social life, and attempts to weaken its national existence and identity are contrary to fundamental human rights, national self-determination, and human dignity.

The Pashtunkhwa NAP said the attempt to evict the people of Shorparud from their homes and ancestral areas is not merely a housing issue, but amounts to severing people’s historical, cultural, and economic connection to their land. Issuing orders to vacate the area to people settled on their own lands, and threatening the use of force in case of refusal, amounts to collective punishment of an entire population, as a result of which the livelihoods of thousands of families, children’s education, social relationships, and generations-old historical ties could be severely affected.

The party made clear that the nations settled on the lands of Balochistan and Pashtunkhwa have the fundamental right to protect their land, resources, national identity, and collective life. Decisions regarding the future of any area cannot be imposed while ignoring the will, rights, and interests of its people. Expelling people from their ancestral land through force, fear, and coercive measures is not a solution to problems; rather, it will further increase deprivation, anxiety, and a sense of alienation.

The Pashtunkhwa NAP’s position is that promises of temporary camps, food, and medicine after forced eviction cannot be a substitute for the affected families’ fundamental rights. Tents cannot replace ancestral homes, aid cannot replace one’s land, and temporary shelter cannot substitute for generations-old historical and cultural ties. The real responsibility is to give people the right to live a safe life in their homes and on their lands, and to immediately end eviction orders and threats.

The Pashtunkhwa NAP demands that all orders to vacate the area for the people of Shorparud be immediately withdrawn, threats of forced eviction be stopped, the protection of the lives, property, and fundamental rights of the local population be ensured, and affected families be guaranteed a free, dignified, and safe life on their ancestral lands.

The party reiterated its commitment that the struggle for the protection of the national rights, historical identity, land, and resources of the Pashtun and Baloch peoples is principled and indivisible. “We do not accept any step through which a nation is made a stranger in its own land or forced through the use of power to give up its homes and lands,” it said.

“We make clear that the Baloch people cannot be deprived of their national identity and historical ties by dispossessing them of their ancestral land. Land is not merely a name for geographical boundaries; it is the foundation of a nation’s history, culture, livelihood, identity, and collective life. The Baloch people’s right to live on their land, to have a right to their resources, and to have authority in decisions about their future must be recognized,” the statement said, expressing the Pashtunkhwa National Awami Party’s principled solidarity with the legitimate national and human rights of the Baloch people and demanding that forced eviction measures in Shorparud be immediately stopped and the people’s rights and protection be ensured.