Let’s mourn five Saraiki labourers killed by Baloch militants
The BLA has claimed responsibility for killing five Saraiki labourers who were building a mosque in Naushki
Related posts: In defence of Punjabis: Stop target killing of Punjabi settlers in Balochistan
LUBP archive on Punjabi settlers in Balochistan
I was motivated to write this post after reading the following tweet by a fellow Tweeple, a Baloch rights activist, Abdul Bugti.
Abdul_Bugti Abdul Bugti
BREAKING: #Baloch freedom fighters gunned down 5 punjabi spies in Noshki, #Balochistan
23 Jul
Abdul_Bugti Abdul Bugti
5 punjabi spies shot dead in Darband area of Noshki ,#Balochistan by #Baloch Freedom Fighters ( #BRA #BLA #BLF #BLUF #LB )
23 Jul
According to Abdul Bugti’s Twitter profile: “I am a student, politician, freedom fighter, analyst, a leader, a mystery, above All I am a Baloch and I fight for Free Balochistan.” Apparently he also has a blog on Balochistan.
However, he was not alone. I received similar messages from other Baloch Tweeples.
SN_Bugti Shah Nawaz Bugti
(BLA) Baloch Liberation Army Claim Responsibility For Killing of Panjabi Spies In Noshki…. #Balochistan #BBCurdu Report #BLA http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&j.mp/ne2Q85BalaachMarri TheBaloch
B.L.A. spokesman Meerak Baloch: BLA claims responsibility of killing 5 settlers in Noshki yesterday.Balochvoice Balochvoice
Five Punjabi settlers gunned down in Naushki: * Baloch liberation Army claimed responsibility of the attackOccup… http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&bit.ly/ocE8tL
This is how I responded on Twitter:
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
Will my Baloch friends condemn this? RT @Abdul_Bugti BREAKING: #Baloch freedom fighters gunned down 5 punjabi spies in Noshki, #Balochistan. It is important for all communities (Baloch, Hazara, Punjabi, Pashtun) in Balochistan to be inclusive in condemnation of target killings.
23 Jul
And this is how my call was responded to:
Abdul_Bugti Abdul Bugti
THEY WILL SURELY APPRECIATE IT RT @AbdulNishapuri: Will my Baloch friends condemn this?…
23 Julsarmachar
@AbdulNishapuri Why should #Baloch condemn killing of Pnjabi spies? Punjabi Punjab main rahen Baloch zameen pe kya karae hain?Abdul_Bugti Abdul Bugti
i might condemn killings of punjabies in a condition when #Baloch kill them in punjab but in #Balochistan i 100% approve itFaizBaluch
#BLA is defending #Balochistan and fighting against Pakistan military and her spies , so it be a #Baloch, #Punjabi or anyone. I know what humanity is. But right now Punjabi (Human) is dominant on us #Baloch, they have occpied our country #Balochistan.ArchenBaloch
it is better if laborers from Punjab spare #Balochistan Because the war of freedom has engulfed entire Balchistan agains..Abdul_Bugti Abdul Bugti
they r looting our resources,sucking the sacred blood of our motherland & supplying it 2 veins of evil punjab 2 keep it alive
Given that “Pakistani media does not report on the brutal realities of Balochistan“, and given that LUBP considers it a duty to condemn all forms of violence against all individuals and groups notwithstanding their ethnicity, faith, sect or nationality, I consider it important to highlight and condemn the target killing of the non-Baloch (Saraiki, Punjabi etc) by the Baloch militant groups.
Here’s the news item which reports the cold-blooded murder of the poor labourers by Baloch militants. It is important to note that these five unfortunate labourerers belonged to South Punjab (Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan) and were Saraiki instead of Punjabi.
Five Punjabi settlers mowed down in Naushki
By: Bari Baloch
Published: July 24, 2011QUETTA – Unidentified armed assailants gunned down five labourers apparently in an incident of target killing in Nushki district, some 148 km from Quetta on Saturday. Assistant Commissioner Zahir Jan Jamaldini said five labourers were constructing a mosque in Kisankori area of Nushki when two armed men riding a motorbike opened indiscriminate fire on them. Consequently, five labourers sustained critical wounds and died before reaching the hospital, he added. The deceased were moved to Civil Hospital Nushki where they were identified as Zahid, Ghulam Hussain, Munir Ahmed, Ishfaq and Habibullah. “The victims belonged to Rajanpur area of Punjab province and their bodies have been sent to Quetta from where they would be transported to their native town,” Jamaldini said and added that Levies men had started a search operation in the area to hunt down the killers.
A senior police officer in Nushki told this scribe that investigation into the killings was underway and apparently it seemed to be a case of target killing.
The Baloch Liberation Army has claimed the responsibility for the gun attack. The BLA also threatened to kill the five employees of Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation if PMDC failed to close down its mining projects in Balochistan.
BLA spokesman Meerak Baloch called different newspaper offices and claimed responsibility for the killing of five labourers and said it was in retaliation of killing of Baloch missing persons and throwing their bodies in the streets.
Source: The Nation
According to Daily Times: The deceased were identified as Mohammad Ashfaq, a resident of Ranajpur, Ghulam Hussain, a resident of Dera Ghazi Khan, Munir Hussain, Mohammad Zahid and Habibullah of Rajanpur.
While LUBP is a proud supporter of the Baloch struggle for rights and equality, it is important to acknowledge that it is not only Baloch who are being killed by the military state. According to Zohra Yusuf of the Pakistani human-rights commission, Baloch militants too are killing Punjabi settlers in Balochistan.
Rafiullah Kakar writes in daily Dawn:
…Baloch insurgents are allegedly involved in the target killing of innocent teachers, barbers, shopkeepers and labourers — mainly ethnic Punjabis and other minorities — that has not only caused substantial economic and political damage but has also brought the education system of the province to a standstill. As a result of targeted killings, a considerable number of qualified teachers, fearing for their safety, have either left the province or demanded their relocation to schools in Pashtun-dominated districts of Balochistan where the law and order situation is rather better. According to a report by the Human Rights Watch, more than 200 teachers and professors have been transferred from their schools to the relatively more secure capital Quetta, or have moved out of the province entirely since 2008. Only in Balochistan University 70 teachers out of a faculty of 200 submitted applications for transfer after a woman teacher of the university was murdered in April, 2010. The insurgents view schools and educational personnel as representatives of the Pakistani state and symbols of perceived military oppression of the province. As a matter of fact, the victims of targeted killings are people who got settled in the province long ago and, by now, have almost integrated themselves into the socio-cultural, economic and political fabric of the province. These people have nothing to do with the state and its military establishment against whom the Baloch anger is primarily intended.
Responding to Baloch insurgency by abducting and killing Baloch nationalists and insurgents, as the HRW, Amnesty, HRCP etc have documented, means the military state has abandoned a basic responsibility: working within the confines of Pakistan’s constitution and the law.
Similarly, while Baloch separatists may not consider themselves subject to Pakistan’s constitution, it is important for them to understand their ethical and moral responsibilities, thus in my view Baloch militants must not lose what my friend Shaheryar Ali recently described as: “human essences! I say human essence because Emanuel Levinas in his post-Holocaust studies has recognised the “first philosophy”, the duty to protect the other, and the first thing human perceives before even cognition is to recognise the need to protect other!”
I also agree with Ali Dayan Hasan, HRW Rep for Pakistan, when he says:
Human rights protections should be enjoyed by all. Abuses by the state do not allow others license to abuse in turn. It is our view that Baloch nationalists, sectarian militants and Taliban groups have all been involved in attacks on education sector personnel. Whoever targets civilians on the basis of ethnicity is in effect engaging in a policy of ethnic cleansing and this is unacceptable and criminal. Period. The notion that you can legitimately engage in such acts as “retaliation” is nonsense. Even if Baloch nationalists do not recognise the sovereignty of Pakistani state, they are still committing war crimes by attacking non-combatants and they should fully expect and receive censure and condemnation. And by perpetrating such atrocities, Baloch nationalists are harming Balochistan’s development instead of advancing it and destroying the future of their land and its people.
As a matter of principle, I condemn violence by all parties including by the military state and the Baloch militants. On the balance, I remain sympathetic towards the Baloch nationalists struggle for their rights, and do not want to draw a false equation between their violence and the systematic and institutional kill & dump policy of the military state which is tantamount to Baloch genocide.
However, it is important for all communities (Baloch, Hazara, Punjabi, Pashtun) in Balochistan and elsewhere to be inclusive in condemnation of target killings. If a Hazara condemns only Hazara killings and doesn’t condemn Baloch and Punjabis’ mass murder, they weaken their own cause. And vice versa.
Similarly, Pakistani Shias, Christians, Ahamdis and other groups must be inclusive in their condemnation of persecution and mass murders.
It is my considered opinion that those who are selective or apologetic in condemnation of violence or target killing by any group are not serving anyone’s cause for equality and justice.
As a fellow tweeple SufyanArshad recently stated: “If #Baloch nationalists don’t condemn mass murder of Punjabi or Hazara community, it’s a brutal conduct on their behalf.”
In fact, barring a few Baloch Tweeples, the majority proudly defended the massacre of five labourers by the BLA while others including some known journalists covering Balochistan remained completely SILENT!
For example, in @BalochHal’s editoiral, “The Core Commander” , my friend Malik Siraj Akbar legitimately highlights the Baloch genocide by Pakistan army, the editorial talks about everything from Akbar Bugti to Dr. Shazia and from Mukhtaran Mai to Osama bin Laden but does not offer a single mention of target killings of Hazaras and Punjabi settlers in Balochistan. I suggest, for balance, Baloch writers must also acknowledge target killing of Hazaras by TTP-SSP-Jundullah and Punjabi settlers by Baloch militants in addition to the Baloch genocide by the military state.
Of course, so far I have not seen any report on the massacre of 5 Saraiki labourers on any Baloch website including the Baloch Hal and the Baloch Johd. Persecution and target killings of Hazaras, Punjabis, Saraikis and Pasthuns remains generally neglected by Baloch writers and activists.
However, I salute my Baloch friend Mureed Bizenjo and a few other Baloch tweeples who boldly condemned the massacre of Punjabi labourers.
MureedBizenjo
My blood literally boils when innocent people are targetted and blamed as spies These ghastly acts must be stopped. They have been living in naushki for years; people knew them; they were buildng a mosque. Anyone who supports/appreciates violence & kiling of innocents be it #punjabi #Hazara #Baloch they don’t deserve freedom.
For a view from Punjab, as an example, please consider this comment on an Express Tribune article:
arshad aftab
Jul 18, 2011
why never any editorials for the punjabi civilians deliberately murdered in balochistan for their ‘crime’ of being punjabis? why never any talkshows or interviews of the families of the victims of balochi militants ? why is our media so biased against punjabis? thousands of hours of hue and cry over akbar bugti and the missing persons but not a single second on the genocide of punjabis in balochistan,hundreds of teachers,doctors and traders have been ruthlessly killed by the baloch terrorist groups but our media deliberately chooses to remain dead silent over this ethnic cleansing …. why no suo moto notice over the deliberate campaign of murder against the punjabi civilians?
Here is my appeal to the media, Baloch rights activists and human rights activists to be inclusive and proactive in highlighting and condemning the target killing of the Baloch and Hazara as well as Punjabi, Saraiki and Urdu speaking settlers in Balochistan.
Baloch tribes of the Saraiki Waseb – by Farooq Miana
http://waseb.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/baloch-tribes-of-the-saraiki-waseb-by-farooq-miana/
Settlers — caught in crossfire
By Nasir Jamal
QUETTA: “They keep changing the menu,” a hotel attendant in Quetta sums up the scale and scope of the target killing of settlers in Balochistan. “Almost all non-Baloch are on their hit-list.”
Nearly 1,200 settlers are estimated to have been killed across Balochistan, mostly in what are referred to as hit-and-run incidents and grenade attacks on their businesses and homes. According to Balochistan Punjabi Ittehad, some 200,000 people have fled Balochistan since early 2008 when the violence against various ethnic groups excluding Pashtuns peaked. Other estimates put the number at 100,000. In any case the migration has been significant.
Muhammad Khalid of Balochistan Punjabi Ittehad says “the militants began to target the Punjabi settlers after Nawab Bugti was taken out by the military (in August, 2006). Before that there were occasional incidents in which Punjabis were targeted”.
The settler killings increased soon after the Feb 2008 elections. It was the time when the Baloch militant organisations such as Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) began to paint such slogans as ‘down with Punjabis’, ‘Long Live Azad Balochistan’, etc. “My own election billboards were sprayed by the BLA activists with these slogans,” says Anwaarul Haq Kakar, a young PML-N leader whose National Assembly constituency in Quetta mostly comprises Punjabi settlers.
“A vast majority of settlers killed in the beginning were service providers from Punjab running barber shops, laundries and tailoring shops. Later the militants also began to target teachers, doctors, lawyers and other professionals,” says Mohammad Amir, who is also associated with the Balochistan Punjabi Ittehad.
The first ‘high-profile’ killing in Quetta was of the provincial education minister, Shafique Ahmed, in 2009, he says. It was followed by the killings of school and college teachers, university professors and others. Mostly Punjabis were the target but other ethnic groups were also hit — Urdu-speaking people from Karachi and Hindko-speaking settlers from Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In many cases, people tell this reporter, those hit by the insurgents had earlier received pamphlets warning them to leave immediately.
The target killing has created an atmosphere of fear and terror among the settlers in the entire Balochistan. While Quetta still hosts a substantially large population of Punjabi and other settlers, few remain in the Baloch areas of the province. Even in Quetta the settlers are afraid of going to areas such as Sariab Road, a Baloch-dominated neighbourhood. Many old Sariab Road dwellers, including Pashtuns, have sold their property and moved to non-Baloch quarters of the city for safety.
“The property prices in Baloch areas are at their lowest because of the exodus from there,” a Pashtun dealing in rice business in Quetta says.
Only those Punjabi settlers who had been assured of protection by Baloch tribes or those working on government projects under the watch of the security forces still remain in the Baloch areas.
Chacha Raheem came to Quetta from Rawalpindi in search of livelihood more than 22 years ago. He says “only people who don’t have anyone to fall back on or those who lack the financial means to relocate or have (provincial) government jobs are staying back”. Others say there are many who have actually given up their government jobs to return to Punjab.
Around 10 incidents of target killings have taken place in Quetta during 2011. This is a reduction in violence which is often linked by the officials and others to the ‘discovery’ of 170-odd bodies of Balochs believed to be ‘separatists’ involved in ‘murders’ and ‘terrorism’. Amir of Punjabi Ittehad says, consequently, “almost 50 per cent of the settlers who had left Quetta since the start of violence have come back.”
But many, such as Chacha Raheem, do not agree with Amir’s assessment. “Why would anyone come back?” Chacha asks. “To get killed or relocate in another six months or a year?” he wonders. “Who knows what is afoot? No one can guarantee that the Baloch rebels who have gone underground will not resurface and start killing the settlers again.”
It is difficult to put a number on them, but some, at least some of those who had left close relatives behind in the city, are returning to Quetta.
PML-N’s Kakar recalls how the Punjabi settlers “forced out by the government of Sardar Attaullah Mengal in the early 1970s” returned “because the Baloch or the Pashtuns did not have the skills or education to replace them”.
Are we going to see a repeat of that now? The Baloch associated with the ‘resistance’ do not think so. “We want all settlers, particularly the Punjabis and the Urdu-speaking, to leave our land. They are colonialists and our enemies. We don’t want collaborators of the Pakistan military on our soil,” says a former activist of the Balochistan Students Organisation (Azad) who is currently affiliated with the movement for an independent Balochistan. “We are being treated as Red Indian and our existence is in danger.”
He defends target killing of Punjabi and other settlers, saying it will soon lead to ‘freedom from Pakistan’. “How can you expect us to let your people live in peace when our own land has been turned into a hell for us,” he contends, adding that the killing and ‘mutilation’ of a couple of hundred ‘freedom fighters’ cannot quash their movement for liberation. “It won’t be very long before we come back for those who haven’t left our soil yet.”
For many moderate Baloch intellectuals and writers target killings of Punjabis and other settlers — though a ‘human problem’ — are a way for the insurgent groups of communicating to the world that ‘we want to be independent’.
“Punjabis came here to live and work under the British Raj as food suppliers, camp followers and providers of skilled labour and services. Now they have become chief justice, IG police and occupy senior positions in the government at our expense,” says a leading ‘moderate’ Baloch writer in Quetta.
“This is like speaking to a press conference for them,” he says and adds it becomes difficult to take a position against insurgency and killings of settlers when people speaking for the rights of the Baloch people are being abducted and their bodies dropped from the air by the security forces, in the presence of a media that is largely silent.
A pamphlet by the Balochistan Liberation Front delivered to several Quetta-based journalists some time ago warned the journalists against becoming a part of the ‘dirty game’ being played by Pakistan’s security forces against the Baloch freedom movement. “Do not try to cover up the Pakistani security forces’ black deeds against the Baloch. Do not also try to play down the forces’ losses at the hands of the BLF,” it said.
It is not Baloch insurgents alone who are speaking through target killings. The security forces are also using bullets and violence to send a ‘tough’ message across to them. Caught in the crossfire are the common people.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/29/settlers-caught-in-crossfire-2.html
Balochistan’s first ever elected chief minister and the patron-in-chief of the Balochistan National Party Sardar Attaullah Mengal told BBC in a fresh interview that he opposed the target killings of Punjabis in Balochistan. Disassociating from the current wave of ethnic strife in the province, which has driven thousands of Punajbis out of Balochistan, the veteran Baloch nationalist leader made it clear that he did not endorse the use of violence for achieving political goals.
پنجابیوں کو مارنا غلط ہے: مینگل
ریاض سہیل
بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، کراچی
دن دھاڑے بےگناہ لوگوں کو ُاٹھا کر ان پر تشدد کرکے لاشیں عید کے دن پھینک دیتے ہیں: سردار عطاء اللہ مینگل
بلوچستان نیشنل پارٹی کے سابق سربراہ اور بزرگ قوم پرست رہنما سردار عطااللہ مینگل نے کہا ہے کہ وہ بندوق کے ذریعے مسائل حل کرنے کے حق میں نہیں ہیں۔
انہوں نے بی بی سی اردو کے ساتھ ایک انٹرویو میں کہا کہ سرکار کو زیادہ سمجھ کا مظاہرہ کرنا چاہیےجو لوگوں کے حقوق اور ان کی حفاطت کا دعویٰ کرتی ہے۔
’یہ لڑکےجو کچھ کرتے ہیں آئے دن چار پنجابی مارتے ہیں، یہ غلط ہے میں اس کے حق میں نہیں ہوں اس میں جن کا ہاتھ ہے حکومت پکڑ کر ان کا ٹرائیل کرے انہیں باقاعدہ سزا دینی چاہیے
http://criticalppp.com/archives/30962
The increasingly xenophobic and ultra-racist actions of Baloch rebels is truly sickening.
It ruins and tarnishes their just struggle for freedom.
[This comment is addressed to “Fakester’s” comment below]
“Killed Punjabi settlers can be counted on finger tips”
really?
“Nearly 1,200 settlers are estimated to have been killed across Balochistan, mostly in what are referred to as hit-and-run incidents and grenade attacks on their businesses and homes. According to Balochistan Punjabi Ittehad, some 200,000 people have fled Balochistan since early 2008 when the violence against various ethnic groups excluding Pashtuns peaked. Other estimates put the number at 100,000. In any case the migration has been significant.”
http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/29/settlers-caught-in-crossfire-2.html
The following comments were falsely attributed to a fellow Tweeple. While the false attribution has been removed, the comments are being posted to respect the fakester’s freedom of speech:
Fakester says:
IP: 82.145.210.155 , z20-12.opera-mini.net
Killing of Punjabi labourers is offcourse an act which cannot be defended.
But I still have disagreements with the post. The post here is giving an impression of compensating Baloch genocide, by equalising it with killing of Punjabi settlers, while its completely wrong, as is one of the countering argument by state friendly analysts to lessen the impact of what Army is doing in Balochistan,
Another issue is producing an extract from another article by Shaheryar Ali, as in the same post he has presented the killing of Punjabis a direct consequence of dehumanisation of Baloch by the state tyranny and atrocities.
The author should produce the exact number of Punjabis killed in Balochistan, but he will never do it as it exposes his own shallow argument.
Describing sectarian violence in a way as the author is shifting the blame on Baloch freedom fighters.
Condemnation is not enough evidence of not being involved, if it’s not the case, then the learnt author should be satisfied with the Javed Zia statement of showing his concerns on the killings of missing persons.
The LUDP blog, which I hate for being Zardari chamchas and PPP apologists, is a champion of raising voice in support of persecuted Shias and Hazaras, and it claims to be supporters of Baloch right of self determination, but the way they daringly condemn the killing of Punjabis, should also condemn the killing of SSP/LeJ activists, by Shia armed groups as well as the killing of its leadership like Ghafur Nadim, Maulana Amin, Mufti Shamizai, Azam Tariq, Ilyas Zubair etc.
Will LUDP dare to condemn the violence against SSP/LeJ activists by Shia Irani ayatollahs supporters.
……
come on! Write a condemnation post against the killing of extremist ‘deobandi ulemas’ as you love to call them, and I appreciate this blunt title. Though I hate many disagreements with LUDP,
………
As compensating or comparing shia genocide with the killing of a few of SSP/LeJ activists, is a dishonest argument, the same way the above article too is a dishonest attempt.
Killed Punjabi settlers can be counted on finger tips, but the Baloch deaths in the last 60 years have outnumbered many genocides in the known history.
Thx for posting my comments again, proving that you are intellectually dishonest but not morally bankrupt.
Atleast your conscience revived, though it took three or four long hours.
@Fakester
One thing that my colleagues and I have carefully guarded on LUBP is the freedom of speech. You are free to criticize me and my post to your heart’s desire.
In fact, feel free to write a critical post and send it to me directly. I will be very glad to publish it.
BLA apologists?
Is this a consolation article from criticalppp after being a mouthpiece of Baloch maggots who butcher innocent people like chickens?
Shame on you!
Mustafa Qadri of Amnesty International has condemned these senseless killings by the BLA:
Mustafa_Qadri Mustafa Qadri
@AbdulNishapuri @SarahKhan123 @mustikhan my sincere apologies for …these senseless killings & not tweeting this crime earlier was away
AbdulNishapuri Abdul Nishapuri
RT by Mustafa_Qadri@
RT @SarahKhan123 Let’s mourn our dead together: bit.ly/oBZttq @mustikhan @Mustafa_Qadri
Mustafa_Qadri Mustafa Qadri
Baloch Liberation Army claims responsibility for killing 5 poor Punjabi labourers in Balochistan. Senseless, unjustified, criminal.
Man!, I know you can tolerate criticism on yourself and your editors but not a fakester ‘Laibaah’,
Asma Jehangir in a tv show was talking about her visit to Balochistan, when she asked an Army officer about Baloch killings, he replied, madam ap ko pta nai, yeh pura mahina nahate nai hain, Asma cynically replied, wo nahate nai, tau tum inko mar do gey.
They have already been warned not to enter into Balochistan. What about the 11 Balochs abducted from Noshki’s Tableeghi Ijtama next day of the incident? Most likely they will be killed and dumped like the other Balochs being dumped on daily basis all across Balochistan. Lets mourn in advance for those 11 Balochs as well!
LUDP as some like to call it, should be more authoritative than democratic! This is all I can say! Freedom and power both corrupt people!
@Ahmed Iqbalabadi
I agree. Freedom and power must be used in a responsible manner. Abuse of power does not help anyone, not even the abuser!
Agencies, insurgents share disregard for rights: HRCP By A Reporter | From the Newspaper June 30, 2011
ISLAMABAD, June 29: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has said that agents of the state, insurgents and extremists operating in Balochistan share a common disregard for citizens’ rights. The insurgents are involved in killing ‘settlers’ and religious extremists in sectarian killings.
In a report — “Balochistan: blinkered slide into chaos” — released here on Wednesday, the HRCP said: “There is strong evidence of involvement of security forces in enforced disappearances and killings and FIRs registered against security personnel remain un-investigated without exception.”
The report based on the commission’s fact finding mission to Balochistan said that security forces enjoyed complete impunity.
HRCP chairperson Zohra Yusuf criticised the apathetic attitude of both the federal and provincial governments towards the plight of Baloch people. “The civilian authority in Balochistan is practically non-existent and everything is run by security forces.”
She said disappearances continued in all parts of the province and security forces were involved in many of the disappearances and killings. Most of the victims aged between 16 and 25 were either students or unemployed youth.
HRCP secretary general I.A. Rehman and former chairperson Asma Jehangir compared the situation in Balochistan with that of East Pakistan in 1971 and said that security forces were trying to create the same narrative of external forces being responsible for the violence in the province.
“Considering what is being done to those people — they are still very patient,” Mr Rehman said, adding: “If we don’t want them to be patient anymore then the choice is yours.”
The HRCP findings conclude that the Balochistan government is powerless and has failed to raise people’s issues and is subservient to the military.
The report said the situation in Balochistan was so precarious that even courts had failed to ensure compliance with their orders.
Answering a question about the involvement of foreign hands in Balochistan, Asma Jehangir said: “Are you trying to suggest that all Balochis have sold out to foreign elements. Has the government tried even one person for treason?”
She said: “It is repeatedly said that Indians are stirring up trouble in Balochistan, but when the government levels such allegations, we expect it to show some evidence. Unfortunately, we have not seen that. If the allegations are correct, it is all the more serious that the government is not taking up the matter.”
Ms Jehangir highlighted the kidnapping of lawyers who were pursuing cases of missing persons and referred to a case where a lawyer was abducted after winning a case against influential people. “He (lawyer) was detained in a no-go area and I believe that the kidnappers are being patronised by our intelligence agencies,” she said.
The HRCP report contains details of 140 people who had been reported missing, but their mutilated bodies were found between July last year and May this year. “A very dangerous trend has emerged that those who had disappeared were found dead on roadsides. The bodies have torture marks,” the HRCP chairperson said, adding: “Insurgents and religious extremists are also involved in the killing of ethnic and religious minorities.”
Recommendations
The HRCP said that people involved in illegal detention should be prosecuted and the victims of enforced disappearance must be traced, released and given compensation.
“The illegal practice of enforced disappearances represents a complete negation of rule of law and must stop forthwith. The state must ensure that actions of its agents remain within the confines of law and that derelictions are investigated in a transparent and credible manner and punished in accordance with the law.”
The commission said that political engagement or dialogue should be the preferred approach and promises made in the Balochistan package should not remain little more than promises, as it was now. It said: “All security forces operating in the province should be brought under civilian control, and there is a need for accountability of security forces. No one other than the authorities authorised by the law should take a person into custody.
“The powers of decision-making and governance must be restored to civil political authorities in Balochistan. The provincial government needs to assert its authority and act in the interest of people.
“The higher judiciary may instruct subordinate courts to actively pursue cases of rights violations, while the judiciary should also be more assertive in ensuring compliance with its orders.”
http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/30/report-on-balochistan-released-agencies-insurgents-share-disregard-for-rights-hrcp.html
@AbdulNishapuri
@Mustafa_Qadri Does @Amnesty have any plans to document & publish data on killings of Baloch, Hazaras and settlers in Balochistan?
26 Jul
Mustafa_Qadri Mustafa Qadri
@AbdulNishapuri @Amnesty have data problem is figuring out exact no. Rather than exact figure we highlight as major human rights crisis
28 Jul
My Baloch friend has sent me this comment via Twitter:
MirSohaib Mir Sohaib Mengal
@AbdulNishapuri can u plz embed this into ur that killing seraiki blah blah piece? http://youtu.be/hr-vYu0l4Ac specially frm 3:15 to 5
Baloch should avoid killing Saraikis due to the fact that “baloch settlers” are treated very well and are our brothers in the Saraiki region. I understand there struggle against punjabi dominated Pakistan but targeting saraiki labourers is like targeting themselves. We don’t like the punjabi dominance either. Pakistan is In chaos though so anyone kills anyone far from what my father tells me of his childhood. Alhumdulilah he came to Canada so I didn’t have to live through this bull shit.