TikTok gangsters are terrorizing, taking over Pakistan’s river lands

Staring into the lens of a social media video, Shahid Lund Baloch challenges the official over the phone and his thousands of viewers: “Do you know my circumstances or reasons why I took up arms?”

The 28-year-old hides in a riverine area in central Punjab that has long been a haven for gangsters, police said, using the Internet to trap citizens even as he hunts them.

On TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, he charms tens of thousands of messages with guns in hand, romanticizing his rural lifestyle and developing a reputation as a champion of the people.

But he is wanted in 28 cases, including murders, kidnappings and attacks on police officers, with a 10 million rupee ($36,000) bounty on his head.

“People sitting outside think he’s a hero, but people here know he’s not a hero,” said Javed Dhillon, a former MP from Rahim Yar Khan district, which is near the hideouts of Baloch and other bandits like him.

“They were victims of his cruelty and violence.”

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The Baluch are said to live on a sandy island in the “lands of Kacha” — which roughly translates to “bay” — on the Indus River, which runs through Pakistan from top to bottom.

Tall crops provide cover for ambushes, and the region is criss-crossed by shifting seasonal waterways, making it difficult to prosecute crimes ranging from kidnapping to robbery and smuggling.

Crossing three of Pakistan’s four provinces, gangs with hundreds of members have exploited poor coordination between police forces for decades, flitting between jurisdictions.

“The natural features of these lands support criminals,” said senior police officer Naveed Wahla. “They will hide in a water turbine, move around on boats or sugar cane fields.”

Large-scale police operations and even an army invasion in 2016 failed to restore law and order. In August this year, a rocket attack on a police convoy killed 12 officers.

“In the current state of affairs, there is only fear and terror,” said Haq Nawaz, whose adult son was kidnapped in late September for a ransom of five million rupees, which he cannot afford.

“There is no one to take care of our well-being,” he complains.

But gangs are increasingly online.

Some use the Internet to set up “honey traps,” luring kidnapping victims, posing as romantic suitors, business partners, and advertising cheap tractor or car sales.

Some feature hostages in ransom videos or show off arsenals of heavy weapons in musical TikToks.

Baloch has the largest online profile to date – annoying the police with 200,000 followers.

Rizwan Gondal, the chief police officer of Rahim Yar Khan district, says his detectives have a file that proves his “despicable criminal activities”.

“The police made a lot of efforts to detain him, but he escaped,” he added.

“He is a very media-savvy guy. Let him say, ‘I’m going to surrender to the state to prove I’m innocent,’ and let the media cover it.”

“Favorite Bandit Brother”

In his clips, Baluch protests his innocence while claiming to be a vigilante in a lawless land, claiming he only decided to fight after family members were killed in inter-tribal clashes.

“We couldn’t get justice in the courts, so I decided to take up arms and start fighting my enemies,” Baloch told AFP. “They killed our people, we killed theirs.”

But it also reproduces a cycle of state neglect that breeds banditry and, in turn, relegates impoverished farming communities further to the fringes of society.

“The villagers here are not looked at as people but as animals,” Baloch told AFP. “If they have given us schools, electricity, public hospitals and justice, why would anyone even think of taking up arms?”

In the comments, viewers call him “the favorite bandit brother” and “a real hero.” “You captured my heart,” claims another.

“He’s popular in the mainstream because he gives police agencies a hard time,” said Dillon, a former lawmaker.

“People love that he says things they can’t say out loud against people they can’t speak against.”

Robbed of followers

The police proposed to counter the bandits by reducing the level of mobile communication towers to 2G in the Kacha lands, preventing the download of social network applications.

This has not happened yet, and it could lead to further disconnection of communities.

But more low-tech solutions have had some success.

The police’s anti-honeytrap unit has been warning citizens against the gangs with billboards and loudspeakers at checkpoints entering the territory, preventing 531 victims since last August, according to their figures.

Belukh mocks the police. But there’s one problem that’s caught his attention that’s hindering his quest to become an online star.

Copycat social media accounts impersonate him and share duplicate videos of him, earning thousands more followers and views than his legitimate accounts.

He feels robbed. “I don’t know what they are trying to achieve,” he complains.

But for the police, his status as an Internet hero belies the number of his crimes.

“People idealize Shaheed Lund Baloch, but when he kidnaps them, they will realize who Shaheed Lund Baloch really is,” said a senior Wahla officer.

© 2024 AFP