Quetta, Oct 28 (NVI) She could have lived longer had she chosen a subdued life. But she chose death over subjugation.
Her name was Bilqees Didag alias Almas, a woman commander of Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) who played a key role in the recent audacious attack on a Pakistani military camp in Gwadar in Balochistan.
She led from the front during the attack on Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) of the Pakistani military in Gwadar, which started at 4 pm (Pakistan time) on October 22 and continued for over 20 hours. She was injured in the operation and finally killed herself when her ammunition was almost finished.
As a special tribute to her valour, BLF named the October 22 operation after her.
Under the ‘Operation Almas’, BLF’s Qurban Unit and other units carried out simultaneous, coordinated attacks at the FWO and in Gabd and Rimdan 250 in Gwadar.
“This great historic operation was named after the BLF’s fearless and brave guerrilla commander Almas Baloch,” said the outfit’s spokesman Major Gwahram Baloch.
Commander Almas served in various BLF units and became part of its “Saddo Operational Battalion” from its founding, he said.
She was second-in-command of ‘Operation Almas’ and “played a fundamental role in the military and strategic planning of this complex, coordinated engagement and also led the fighters from the front ranks on the battlefield, inflicting heavy human and material losses on the occupying Pakistani army,” he said.
Commander Almas was active in the armed national struggle on BLF’s platform for the past 8 years, committed on ideological, the spokesman said.
Attached to the intelligence wing in Dasht, Turbat and Gwadar, she was active as a member passing important information to the organization, he revealed.
During military operations on the Dasht front, she carried out the important duty of delivering logistical supplies to fighters in the mountains under the harshest conditions, he said.
“Personnel of the Pakistan Army and the state’s death squads subjected Commander Almas to severe torture that left her badly wounded, yet she remained steadfast on the armed front and kept the flag of the freedom struggle high,” Gwahram Baloch said.
The Pakistani agencies repeatedly tried to abduct Almas, but she refused to step back from her goal. She went underground in various parts of Balochistan and kept performing her organizational duties, according to the spokesman.
“Facing state repression with composure, Almas nurtured the idea that every hardship is acceptable on the path of national freedom, but national slavery is never acceptable. To put that idea into practice, Almas decided to sacrifice herself,” he said.
“All future operations carried out in defense of the coast will also be named Operation Almas, so that the Baloch nation and the world always remember her sacrifice,” the spokesman said. (NVI)
