SHATTERED LIVES IN BALOCHISTAN
The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), a
regional federation of organizations of families of the disappeared and
human rights advocates directly working on the issue of enforced
disappearance in Asia, expresses deep concern over the alarming human
rights situation in the occupied Balochistan area in south western part
of Pakistan where a huge number of disappearance cases has been recently
reported.
The AFAD received information from its international friends from
Balochistan areas that more than 8,000 activists were forcibly made to
disappear by Pakistani intelligence agencies and their fates and
whereabouts are still unknown.
In the recent report of the Asian Human Rights Commission, it has been
estimated that the number of Baloch men, women and children abducted by
Pakistani intelligence agencies has reached 8,000. Activists,
politicians and student leaders are among those who have been targeted
in enforced disappearances, abductions, arbitrary arrests and cases of
torture and other ill-treatment. The violence takes place against a
backdrop of increasing political unrest and ongoing military operations
in the Balochistan areas.
We are quite aware that Balochistan has a long history of insurgency
with nationalist groups advocating greater autonomy. The Balochistan
people have been demanding for economic emancipation, concretely through
a bigger share of the revenue generated by the province's natural
resources, principally natural gas. Despite
being rich in natural resources, the Baloch people remain economically
marginalized and receive little or no benefit from the Balochistan
economy.
In its efforts to counter the Baloch struggle, the
Pakistani government has attempted to suppress this opposition by
increasing the military presence in the region. Thousands of people are
believed to have been killed from the hands of the Pakistani security
forces. Many people are reported to have been subjected to enforced
disappearance, torture, summary executions and deaths in custody with
each passing day. Although, the human rights violations are equally
attributable to both the Pakistani army and the Baloch nationalist
rebels, it is the Pakistani state which is largely responsible for the
continuing violence and attack against the Balochistan civilian
population. It has been
reported that the Pakistani intelligence agencies have started to employ
the method of “kill and dump tactics,” in which the victim is first
abducted, tortured and killed in cold-blood and then dumped in open
fields. The recent discovery of the two dead bodies is part of this
growing trend. Bullet-ridden bodies of those abducted, many showing
signs of torture, are increasingly being found across Balochistan.
Another case is that of a renowned Baloch lawyer, columnist and poet, Mr
Ali Sher Kurd who was abducted on 21 September from Quetta and his
mutilated body was found on 24 September 2010 in Khuzdar town in
Balochistan.
It is really a shame on the Pakistani government to take advantage of
the existing political unrest as a justification for its obvious act to
terrorize the Balochistan people and to exterminate them through ethnic
cleansing. It is very clear that the suppression of fundamental freedoms
and civil liberties are not meant to crush the rebellions alone but to
suppress the democratic
demands of Balochistan people for self-determination and social
emancipation. In November 2009, the Pakistani government announced a
package of proposed policy and legislation reforms for Balochistan and
promised to resolve the cases of enforced disappearances as soon as
possible. It has, so far, failed to do so.
The continuing military offensives and the report of the clandestine
conduct of nuclear tests in the Balochistan area by the Pakistani army
which started in 1998 is no less an act of genocide, one that can be
condemned as a crime against humanity.
This grim situation does not only demand condemnation but also for an
urgent action. Thus, AFAD
calls on the government of Pakistan to:
1.
Stop the
growing commission of human rights violations and other atrocities in
the Balochistan areas. The rise in enforced disappearances and “kill and
dump” incidents have only aggravated the already existing political
tensions in the region and have already led to the spare of reprisal
killings by Baloch armed groups.
2.
End the
ongoing militarization and find peaceful ways to resolve the five
decades of political rebellion.
3.
Fulfill
its human rights obligations as enshrined in its
Constitution and embodied in the number of international covenants and
other instruments which Pakistan is a party to and to investigate the
human rights violations particularly the commission of enforced
disappearance, punish the perpetrators and provide justice and
reparations to victims and their families.
4.
Show its
sincerity and commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights
by signing and ratifying the International Convention for the Protection
of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
The AFAD believes that any efforts towards peace will
be meaningless and empty unless a
peaceful resolution of existing conflict be based on truth and justice.
Justice to all the victims of enforced disappearances in Balochistan!
Justice for all victims of human rights violations!
Signed
and authenticated by:
 |
 |
|
MUGIYANTO |
MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO |
| Chairperson |
Secretary-General |
