State’s Frontier Corps (FC), intelligence agencies and Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) forcibly disappeared fifty persons, including students, women and children, while twenty-eight persons were killed in different parts of Balochistan during the month of April.
Enforced Disappearances:
During April, a total number of 68 people were forcibly disappeared by the paramilitary forces from various areas of Balochistan, mostly from district Kech and Awaran. Eighteen of these victims were released, seven including women and children were framed in fake cases, while the whereabouts of the remaining abductees are still unknown.
On April 01, plain-clothed personnel of intelligence agencies whisked away Lal Mohammad from Zehri area of district Khuzdar. The victim is a football player and was abducted when he was on his way back home after a football match in a nearby village.
The same day, personnel of Frontier Corps whisked away two persons, Wasim Ahmad son of Salim and Muhammad son of Abdul Ghaffar from Mand, district Kech.
On April 02, FC soldiers detained two persons, Azmat Ghulab and Mudar Pahradin in Dera Murad Jamali district of Naseerabad and disappeared them.
On April 05, FC soldiers abducted four persons during a raid in Sebdan village of district Kech. Two of them Nabi Bakhsh and Raziq were tortured and released, while Rostum and Shahdad are still missing.
On April 07, FC soldiers abducted and disappeared eleven persons during a raid in Kundri area of Mashkay, district Awaran. Victims were identified as Nurdin Hussain and his son Hasil, Muhammad Umar son of Shaker, Usman, Hozur Bakhsh and Mir Khan sons of Badin, Abdul Nabi son of Muhammad Karim, Hassan son of Arzi, Gazzi son of Rahmat, Abdul Malik son of Gazzi and Qadir Bakhsh son of Arzi.
On April 09, three persons, Iqbal, Rahmat and Fazal were abducted and disappeared by FC soldiers during a military operation in the Karki area Kech.
On April 10, FC raided the house of Abdul Ghafoor in Khuzdar and forcibly disappeared his son, Gulzar Ahmed.
The same day, personnel of intelligence agencies abducted and disappeared Lala Arshed son of Muhammad Hassan from Karachi, capital of Sindh province, while ten persons, Mehbub Sheran, Shoaib Muhammad Shah, Waju Wahid, Farid Younis, Nabil Liaquat, Maqbool Haji Akbar, Riaz Faiz, Yousif Haji Akbar, Sheeran Wahid and Mubarak Dilmurad were abducted and disappeared from Gomazi, Kech. Later on, Mehbub Sheran, Shoaib Muhammad Shah, Waju Wahid, Farid Younis and Mubarak Dilmurad were released however, whereabouts of the rest remained unknown till the time of this report.
On April 17, FC soldiers detained and disappeared Salim son of Karim Bakhsh, a resident of Balgetar Gaddagi, when he was on his way to Quetta.
The same day, CTD personnel raided a house in Hub Chowki and forcibly disappeared Safi son of Abdul Razzaq resident of Washbod, district Panjgur.
On April 22, tribal chief Sardar Mata Khan invited Sona Khan Brahmani, a resident of Dhadar, and his brother to his house and since then both the brothers are missing. Sardar is believed to be backed by army and enjoys impunity.
On 26 April, FC soldiers detained Wasim son of Baba Shaukat resident of Gubord, Mand from an FC check post in Kech, and forcibly disappeared him.
On 27 April, two brothers, Nasim and Majid sons of Lal Bakhsh, and Dolat son of Muhammad Ali residents of Gaddagi, Keelkore were picked up and disappeared by FC soldiers from Askani Bazar, Turbat, district Kech.
Students:
At least four students were picked up by the security forces and intelligence agencies from Punjab and Sindh.
Bibagr Imdad, a student of English Literature at National University Lahore, was whisked away by personnel of intelligence agencies on 27 April, from the hostel of Punjab University. He is a resident of Apsar area of Turbat, district Kech who aimed to get a better education in Punjab’s university.
Another student, Saeed son of Muhammad Omar, resident of Kech was forcibly disappeared from Malir area of Karachi on 28, April. He was a student in Russia who had come to Pakistan to visit his family.
The other day, on April 29, personnel of intelligence agencies whisked away two more students from Karachi: Najib son of Abdul Rasheed, who is a resident of Buleda, Kech, a student of M. Phil Sociology at Karachi University. He was abducted from Gulshan Iqbal Karachi and Shoaib son of Azam Khan, a resident of the Nal Garrok area of Khuzdar. Najib was tortured and released, however, the whereabouts of Shoaib remains unknown.
Collective Punishment:
Collective punishment is one of the tools that the Army uses against critics of military policies in Balochistan. To counter the insurgency in the province, and to silent the voices, paramilitary forces forcibly disappear, torture and kill the family members of the activists and members of armed groups.
In a recent case, six members of Saleh Haroon’s family were abducted and forcibly disappeared, in three separate raids on his house. On 26 April, forces whisked away his father, Haroon. The next day, forces released him in a critical condition and whisked away Saleh’s mother, Shah Bibi, his sister-in-law, Shahzadi with her six-day-old baby and Shahzadi’s father, Abdul Rahman, from Gichk area of district Panjgur. The other day, forces abducted Abdul Rahman’s son Abdul Haq. Abdul Rahman and his son were tortured and released once, but disappeared again within few days. Abdul Rahman was once forcibly disappeared in 2017 and released after several months of torture.
On April 19, FC soldiers abducted and forcibly disappeared seven women and children from a check post in Turbat, Kech. They were identified as Niwag, a widow and her four-year-old son Rehan, Surat and Fatima daughters of Lal Bakhsh, six-month-old Noori daughter of Ghafoor, Amina daughter of Hamza and Atiqa daughter of Rashid. Later, they were brought to the police station and framed in fake cases. Their family members bailed them out.
Disappearance of summoned people:
Since the regular army replaced the Frontier Corps in the Gichk area of Panjgur, the Army imposed its own laws to control the area and people’s lives. According to these laws, all male members in every household of the area, from age 12, have to appear once or twice in a week in the military’s camp. In case of marriages and funerals, people need a prior permission from the army. Even in order to visit a nearby village to buy household items, one needs the army’s permission. Hence, every single household is under watch in Gichk and surrounding areas.
Many men, summoned in the camps did not return to their homes, neither the families are informed about the allegations and whereabouts.
On 12 April, Dad Bakhsh son of Lal Bakhsh, a resident of Shapkol, Awaran was summoned to Tanzila FC camp and did not return.
Kidnap for ransom:
On April 27, the security forces abducted eleven persons, including a student, women and children from four different villages. Ali Nawaz son of Kalati Mondrani Bugti, Naveed son of Shehzad Dinari Bugti, Samad son of Ali Muhammad Mandir, and Siddiq Sundarani Bugti were abducted during a raid by the CTD in Sui area of district Dera Bugti. The families of victims say that the police demanded millions of rupees in return for the release of their loved ones.
Killings:
HRCB received 39 cases of killings during the month, 11 of them remained unidentified. Fifteen people were killed in target killings, tribal conflicts, personal enmities, and firing incidents while one was killed in an honor killing.
Five people were killed by Baloch separatist groups on allegation of being facilitators of the army, while two armed nationalists were killed by the security forces during skirmishes.
As per the data we have collected, nine incidents of extra-judicial killings perpetrated by the state forces were reported across Balochistan.
Border trade:
Most of the people living near the Iranian and Afghanistan borders are dependent on the border trade. FC and the army, besides charging them with taxes, have made the lives of these people miserable, by looting their loads and closing the borders every now and then. The people are held for days and weeks in the deserts without any reason.
In a recent incident, on 14 April, the personnel of FC opened fire on drivers in Nokundi area of district Chaghi and killed a driver, Hamidullah. The forces took out the batteries of 300 vehicles and filled the tanks of these cars with sand, which compelled the drivers to walk in the desert. As a result, three drivers died of hunger and thirst in the scorching heat.
This tragic incident provoked protests across the province triggering strong reactions on social media as well. A large number of people gathered and staged demonstrations protesting the inhumane treatment of the armed forces toward helpless civilians. Instead of addressing the grievances, forces again opened fire, killing one of the protestors on the spot and injuring eight others.
Death squads:
On April 21, members of state-backed local militias called “Death squads” entered a shop and gunned down Dad Jan son of Inayat, a student, footballer and shopkeeper in the Khudabadan area of Panjgur.
In another incident, on April 03, the death squad members opened fire in Toba area of district Washuk and killed three persons of same family. The victims were identified as Awaz son of Imam Bakhsh, Ilyas son of Bashir and Akbar son of Dosta. Akbar’s father, Dosta was also abducted by forces and his mutilated dead body was recovered in 2017.
Ex-fighters:
The army and the government has many times announced amnesty to the members of armed nationalist groups, who surrenders to the forces. Many of them are then armed and used against the nationalist groups and those who refuse, would be killed by forces.
In a similar case, Anwar Baloch, once a nationalist fighter, gave up arms and surrendered to the forces, to find a peaceful life. He was soon forced to work for the army which he refused. On 07 April, FC soldiers raided the Kundri village of Mashkay and killed Anwar and his son his son, Irshad.
Crushed by military vehicles:
Many people are hit and killed by military vehicles in towns and villages of Balochistan. In such a case, on 20 April, a vehicle of the security forces at a high speed hit a car in district Kech. As a result, the driver, Muhammad Ayub Nosherwani died on the spot.
In another case, such a victim passed away, after five years. The 65-year-old Tamas Khan was hit by a military vehicle in 2017. He was critically injured and remained in coma for five years.
In another recent incident, the army hit a passenger van carrying mostly women and children on Noshki-Quetta highway. The passengers were severely injured but luckily survived.
Mutilated bodies:
Four mutilated bodies were recovered from different areas of Balochistan in April 2022. Two of them were identified as Mir Dost son of Dad Muhammad and Babar son of Muhammad Omar, residents of Kech, while the other two bodies were beyond recognition.
