Balochistan: 28 disappeared, 18 killed in August

Thirty-two people were forcibly disappeared by Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force, in five districts of Balochistan in the month of August while 18 people were killed during the same period.

The Pakistan military has turned its southwestern province into a war zone since early 2000’s to suppress a nationalist movement. The relatives and human rights groups accuse the military of forcibly disappearing and killing thousands of political activists, students, journalists and others.

Human Rights Council of Balochistan and Baloch Human Rights Organization was not able to reach out to most parts of Balochistan and could collect details only from Awaran, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur and Lasbela districts. Twenty seven out of 32 districts could not be reached by our volunteers due to strict government censorship measures put in place in the region.

On 01 August, six students were taken away by security forces during two different raids in Kech district’s Turbat area and Panjgur’s Chitkan area, separately. Piral Bashir Ahmad, Sajid Dinar, Sher Jan Yousuf and Alim uddin Mustafa were taken away from Turbat, whereas Abdul Karim Shamim Ahmad and Nasrullah Shabir were from Chitkan, Panjgur. a

Security forces, on 05 August, picked up a resident of Malikabad, Tump district Kech, Ali Hakim, whose whereabout remain unknown to this day.

Uzair Allah Dad was forcibly disappeared along with his sons from Mashkay, Awaran, during a raid at his house on 06 August.

On 08 August, Ali Abdul Rahim was taken away from Ormara, district Gwadar. He is a resident of Jhao, district Awaran.

On 17 August, security forces conducted multiple early morning raids in Jattani Bazar, Dasht district Kech. In a house-to-house search, they harassed women and children, and detained Niaz Shambay.

In another raid the same day on Kalshan, Parom, district Panjgur, security forces also whisked away Shah Nizar Huda Nizar who is still missing.

Meanwhile, security personnel launched military operations in Kolwah, district Awaran on 20 August. The area is still under siege with all communication lines being blocked. No further information could be confirmed from the affected areas.

On 21 August, another military search operation was launched in Raghay, Mashkay district Washuk,in which six shepherds — Dad Karim Hammal, Sher Jan Abdullah, Huzoor Bakhsh Abdullah, Swali Dad Karim, Alam Khan Khair Mohammad and Ghos Bakhsh Gulsher – were detained and taken to an unknown military location.

Adil Kalmati. Photo: Ashoob News

 Also, on 22 August, Adil Kalmati was detained in Jemari Bazar, Gwadar.

On 24 Aug, security forces raided Front Bazar, Dasht district Kech and forcibly disappeared six people — Rafiq Lal Bakhsh, Majid Khuda Dad, Mehbub Abul Hasan, Riaz Dad Mohammad, Nasim Saleh Mohammad and Dur Jan Abdullah.

Essa Shambay, who is 65-year-old, was picked up during a raid at his house in Zairati, Dasht district Kech, on 25 August.

Killings:

On 22 Aug, local aid workers in Noshki, Balochistan, found a decomposed dumped body which was later identified by doctors as that of Sarfaraz Jumma Khan, a local of Noshki. The doctors said the body was could be 22 days old.

On 27 Aug, another decomposed body was found dumped in Kolwah district Kech. The body was later identified as that of Asad Bebagr. He had been abducted by security forces almost a month ago with another person whose whereabout remain unknown.

Human Rights Council of Balochistan (Hakkpaan) is a non-profit and non-partisan human rights group based in Balochistan and Sweden. It collects reports from Balochistan, a region Pakistan government does not allow any media and HR group to visit and report. Human rights violations in Balochistan is not a new phenomenon, but it got its worst levels after the Military coup de tat of Pakistan in 1999. Thousands of Baloch have been reported missing, hundreds killed in fake encounters and so-called kill and dump policy of the military. HRCB collects the data from Balochistan itself, through its network of volunteers and supporters, organizes and reports them to the human rights mechanisms of the world.