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Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
Balochistan: An Introduction Balochistan is divided between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. It strategically bridges the Middle East and Southwest Asia toCentral Asia and South Asia, and forms the closest oceanic frontage for the land-locked countries of Central Asia. Balochistan^ is^
the^ largest^ among Pakistan's four provinces, comprising43 per cent of land area.Around^13 million
people^ inhabit Balochistan (both in Iran, Pakistan andAfghanistan). Despite being the richestprovince^ in^ terms
of^ energy^ and mineral^ resources,
Balochistan remains^ one^ of
the^ most^ under- developed and impoverished regions.The Baloch therefore have long beendemanding the national right to self-determination and control over theirland and resources.Although the Balochistan crisis pre-dates^ General^
Parvez^ Musharraf’s military^ regime,
it^ still^ remains unaddressed.The denial of the fundamental right to self-determination has been a major cause of the ongoing conflict. Pakistani intelligenceand security forces are using brute and suppressive policies to silence moderate Baloch nationalists. However, the military isproviding comfortable support to pro-Taliban elements to reside, regroup, recruit and plan attacks against NATO forces inAfghanistan with which Balochistan shares a long border.
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
Human Rights Violations in Balochistan: Human rights situation in Balochistan continues to deteriorate. The Pakistani authorities continuously suppress, violateand subdue the Baloch people’s right to self-determination and development.Grave human rights violations have been documented by reputable organizations during the on-going militaryoperation (2004-2010) against moderate Baloch nationalists in Balochistan.
These include indiscriminate and
disproportionate use of forceagainst civilians, target killings,displacement and disappearances ofpolitical activists and journalists.Security forces in Balochistan havecommitted hundreds of unlawful^1 killings. Islamabad is using bruteforce and intimidation, harassment,arrests; torture is a commonpractice by the military andintelligence agencies againstdissident Baloch. Peacefulprotestors have been suppressed,political representatives are beingkilled with frequency, activists aredetained unlawfully, and freedom of expression and assembly is totally restricted. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Balochistan office chief Zahoor Ahmed Shahwani said in a publicmeeting that “The Commission has evidence that several human rights violations are taking place here and prisonersjailed by the Anti-Terrorist Force are being treated shockingly” He further added: “The number of extra-judicial arrests 1 http://www.hrcp-web.org/images/publication/balochistan%2520report/pdf/balochistan_report.pdf
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
(disappearances) of political activists is increasing, but the government is silent over such violation. Nothing is beingdone to dispense justice to the victims’ relatives
A climate of political repression: Balochistan’s crisis is a political problem which could only be resolved through dialogue. By using brute force, thegovernment of Pakistan has been trying tobulldoze provincial autonomy. Hundreds ofBalochs are being detained without havingundergone fair trials at court. Arbitrary arrest, illegal detention and torture: A fact-finding team of the HRCP, which visitedBalochistan in December 2005 - January 2006,reported disappearances, torture, and other rightsviolations by the security forces.Political leaders and party activists were oftenthe targets. According to a report released on 12December 2006 by the Balochistan NationalParty-Mengal (BNP-M), around 4,000 Balochyouths, mainly political activists were in custodyof Pakistani intelligence agencies. They wereallegedly tortured by electric shocks, cigaretteand candle burns, blows to sensitive parts of the body and various other methods. The report further alleged that torturecells and illegal detention centres were run by the intelligence agencies.Although the government has reportedly admitted that a few Baloch have been detained, it has refused to give the exactfigure of those detained and their whereabouts. 2 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\05\29\story_29-5-2006_pg7_
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
EnforcedDisappearances Human Rights
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
The country is beset by grave andwidespread human rights violations byvarious State-agencies and institutions,notably by the notorious ISI and themilitary. Thousands of persons aremissing as the result of forceddisappearances committed all acrossthe country, in particular in conflict-affected areas, such as Balochistanprovince.On 28 July 2010, a division bench ofthe Balochistan High Court consistingof Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa andJustice Muhammad Noor Miskanzaiexpressed serious concern over mediareports of the killing of two youngmissing persons, 25 year old AshfaqAhmed Mullahzai and 30 year old Muhammad Farooq Mengal. “We are extremely perturbed with the deaths of Ashfaq Ahmedand Muhammad Farooq Mengal and the same are of great concern.”On 6 August 2010, the bodies of previously disappeared Ghulam Qadir Marri and Bahar Khan Bangulzai from Killi Khali area ofBrewery Road Quetta were found. Baig Muhammad Bangulzai, Bahar Khan’s father, had filed a petition in the Balochistan HighCourt saying that his son was whisked away by security personnel on 31 June 2010. Ghulam Qadir Marri, detained twice beforebut released after severe torture, was a teacher at the Girl’s Primary School, New Kahan, and had been arrested a month earlier.Nasrullah Baloch, Chairman of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, says, “We have received six dead bodies of missing personswithin a short span of two weeks and the issue of missing persons is obtaining a new dimension as they are being killed.”
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
*Pakistan: In rest of three provinces (Punjab, Sindh, )WFP) there have been only 200 cases of disappearances reported, however only in Balochistan province more than 4000 man, women and children have been reported missing.
Particularly Baloch nationalists are targeted. Tariq Baloch of Baloch Student Organization(BSO)-Azad was abducted from Quetta and his kidnappers left him unconscious in anuninhabited place in Wadh on 7 August 2010.In February 2009, the HRCP has called upon the government to immediately set up a high-powered and independent commission to deal with cases of enforced disappearances inBalochistan, to release any people in unacknowledged custody of state agencies, and to helpsecure the release of the UNHCR official, Mr John Solecki
The case of the abduction of UNHCR official Mr Solecki by a militant Baloch groupdemanding the release of a large number of Balochistan citizens assumes serious dimensions.At the same time, the group, that claims to be holding Mr Solecki, issued a list of 867involuntarily disappeared people, including over a hundred women. Theyfurther produced a separate list of 138 women, containing addresses and datesof ‘arrests’ for 76 of them.Whatever one may think of the authenticity of these lists, it is obvious that thesituation created by the claim of disappearance of so many women is far moreserious than previously assumed. It is the first time the people, at least outsideBalochistan, have learnt of the enforced disappearances of Baloch women. Evenin case of the lists’ partial inaccuracies, their existence should make allpoliticians and civil society defenders of the oppressed “hang their heads inshame”, the HRCP stated.In this situation, the government has to take action. Every effort must be madeto counteract the Baloch people’s feeling of outrage. This should have been atop priority issue even if Mr Solecki had not been abducted, and it should 4 http://www.hrcp-web.org/showprel.asp?id=
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
The nationalist forces of Sindh province claim that about 100 persons have disappeared, some of whom were later releasedfollowing the intervention of the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court.In Balochistan province there are dozens of military detention centers, where people are detained and tortured to obtain confessionstatements about their alleged activities against the provincial army. These centers supposedly include the safe house of the ISI atKhuzdar Cantonment area. The Khuzdar district is located in the southeast of the province and all persons from the southerndistricts, who are detained or arrested by the state intelligence agencies, are reportedly brought and kept there. %OTE O% %UMBERS
:^ Enforced disappearances are
subject to a high level of secrecy. As a result, it is difficult todetermine how many people the Pakistani government hassubjected to enforced disappearance. Many people remainsilent about their relatives’ disappearances for fear ofrepercussion – either affecting the “disappeared” orthemselves. Their cases neither reach the courts nor attractmedia attention.
6 The exact number of missing persons and victims of forceddisappearance are difficult to independently verify, notably dueto problems regarding access and security considerations andthe country’s high number of regions. However, differentestimates by nationalist groups, fundamentalist religiousorganizations and different human rights organizations,consistently claim that as many as 8000 cases of missing persons have been reported since the start of the war on terror in differentparts of the country. In Balochistan province alone, over 4000 persons are reportedly missing and disappearances continue tooccur, frequently executed by paramilitary forces. Disappearences are also common in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, AzadKashmir, where state intelligence agencies allegedly arrest and detain persons who refuse to join the “Jihad” against Indian-administrated Kashmir. 6 Amnesty International July 2008 report on Pakistan Disappearances “Denying the Undeniable”
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
There are hundreds of complaints concerning missing persons before the higher courts, including the Supreme Court of Pakistan,listing particular cases of persons who have allegedly been abducted by state intelligence agencies – notably the ISI and militaryintelligence agencies. They are thought to be held in torture cells for durations of many months, accused of treason includingcollaboration with Indian state intelligence agencies, or of involvement with banned militant groups. The Pakistani intelligenceagencies effectively operate beyond the jurisdiction of the courts, which fail to inquire about the fate of missing persons.Suspections by the relatives of missing persons regarding the state intelligence agencies’ involvement are frequently confirmed incases of reappearances. Despite testimonies by resurfaced people, reporting detainment in various torture cells run by stateintelligence agencies, the courts have repeatedly failed to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), its sister organization, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), and a localorganization, the Anjumane Ettehad e Marri, have produced a list of missing persons from the province of Balochistan, whichdetails the cases of 872 missing persons from different districts including 81 women, 151 school girls and 3 infants. AmnestyInternational, in its December 2006 statement,
8 said that “despite growing anger in Pakistan at the practice of enforced disappearances, the government has still not acknowledged its responsibility for hundreds of people arbitrarily detained in secretlocations, and reports of enforced disappearance continue to emerge”.
The families of the missing persons have resorted to
different types of protest.For instance, eight childrenof a missing tailor masternamed Ali AsgharBungulzai, all under 20years of age, started ahunger strike in the Balochcapital Quetta after theirfather’s disappearance for371 days. They marched tothe Governor's House andthe Chief Minister's Housebut did not have anysuccess.Among those missing arepeople of different agegroups and variedprofessions. Haji Jan Mohmmad Marri, 80, a Marri tribal elder of reportedly poor health, has been missing since July 6, 2005. Hisfamily petitioned the Balochistan High Court but are still waiting for consequences. 8 http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/feature-stories/anger-grows-at-enforced-disappearances-in-pakistan-
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
As previously mentioned, thousands of disappearances in Balochistan province were allegedly carried out within the context ofthe internal conflict between the armed forces of the governmental and those of Baloch nationalists.Of particular note is the disappearance of over 168 children and 148 women listed by the NGO Voice for Baloch Missing Persons(VBMP). These were reportedly arrested by the Pakistani intelligence agencies for interrogation regarding alleged links to Balochseparatists and militant groups. The Provincial Interior Ministry of Balochistan issued a list of 992 missing persons on 10December 2009, as part of reconciliation efforts by the federal government. The Chief Minister of Balochistan province, SardarAslam Raisani, said on 13 January 2010, that there were 999 people officially missing in Balochistan, only four of whom haveresurfaced to date.Mr. Zakir Majeed, a student leader, was supposedly abducted by state intelligence agents on June 8, 2009 from Mastung, nearQuetta. Majeed is the senior vice chairperson of the BSO-Azad. The National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) claimed to haveeffectuated his subsequent release. The government of Balochistan officially confirmed his release dated back to 22 January 2010,but his family are still waiting for him to return home.Mr. Murad Khan Marri resurfaced after a forced disappearance for eight months, effectuated by the Pakistan Frontier Corp (FC).The FC claim they arrested Mr. Marri on 27 March 2010, although it is believed he was in fact abducted in June 2009. Hissubsequent release was supposedly motivated by the interest in the Rs. 3 Million (USD 36,585) reward for his safe return. Thegovernment of Balochistan, however, refused to pay the reward and a wrangle ensued between the two.Munir Mengal, managing director of a to-be-launched Balochi channel, Baloch Voice, was intercepted at Karachi airport on 4April 2006, on his return to Pakistan from Bahrain. His alleged crime was to have established a channel for the promotion ofBaloch culture.In its report, the HRCP noted that among the most disturbing accounts of disappearances was that of 18 labour leaders of PakistanPetroleum Limited (PPL) on 9 December 2005 from Karachi.
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
Ms. Zarina Marri, a 23 year old schoolteacher from the Government Middle School in Kahan, Balochistan province, was arrestedin late 2005, and has been held incommunicado in an army torture cell in Karachi, the capital of Sindh province. Unofficial reportshave emerged about her repeated sexual abuse by military officers and her use as a sex slave, in order to induce arrestednationalist activists to sign confessions drafted by Islamabad.Ms. Marri was among 429men, women and childrenwho migrated from theirhomes in Kahan, Koludistrict, Balochistanprovince, after theOctober 2005 Pakistanimilitary and air forcebombardments. It wasbelieved that many men,women and children werekilled in that fighting, andMs. Marri was thenarrested and detained bythe State.The current whereaboutsof the young woman arenot known. It has beenasserted that femaleactivists fighting forgreater autonomy of Balochistan continue to get arrested by the state agencies and forced into sex slavery as part of their custody.
Balochistan’s Forgotten Conflict
The government of Pakistan has still not initiated investigations regarding these allegations of sex slavery against the Pakistanimilitary or regarding the wider problem of forced disappearances. Recommendations: The government is failing to take appropriate actions concerning the many cases of disappearance across the country, even incases of high-profile persons, including Dr. Lutfullal Kakakhel, a renowned scientist and university vice chancellor, who wasabducted on 6 November 2009, and who remains missing.The ALRC urges the government of Pakistan to begin taking all necessary measures to guarantee the right to truth to the relativesand representatives concerning the fate of all missing persons. Beyond this, the government, judiciary and judicial commission ondisappearances need to ensure that justice is restored in these cases of grave human rights violations, by effectuating effective,impartial investigations and prosecutions; appropriate punishment of those responsible; and adequate reparation to the victimsand/or their families. The government of Pakistan can provide a clear signal of its intention to take necessary action concerningthis widespread problem by ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance,by criminalizing enforced disappearances in its domestic legislation and by fully implementing the consequent laws. Thegovernment of Pakistan is also urged to cooperate with the United Nations Human Rights Council and its expert mechanisms,notably by issuing a standing invitation to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to conduct a countryvisit. The HRCP has called upon the government to immediately set up an independent commission to deal with the cases of enforceddisappearances in Balochistan
9 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\02\21\story_21-2-2009_pg7_
