Two days ago, the decomposed body of Hani Sasoli, a resident of Hormagayi area of district Washuk, was found in a desolated area of district Kharan.
According to the details, on November 26, 2021, Hani Sasoli went to the town of Kharan to do shoppoing for her son’s engagement, but she never returned. In search of Hani, her family members acquired her call history and found out that the last phone number that had contacted her was registered in one Asif Ali’s name, who is a resident of Jhal Magsi. Apparently, Asif Ali’s sim was used to call Hani, but registration of a sim card on fake identity documents is common in Pakistan.
After a month of search, Lal Bakhsh, Hani’s brother, contacted the police about his sister’s disappearance. The police filed the report but no investigation was carried out. The family later came to know that she was kidnapped by Zahid Ali Mohammad Hassani, a constable of levies force. The family was also informed that she had been raped by Zahid Ali and his friends, who then killed and buried her body. Since Zahid Ali belongs to an influential family in the area, the police never carried out any investigation or took any action against the him.
Even after the dead body was found, the police are still hesitant to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of Hani’s death.
Meanwhile, on 07 January 2022, a man who introduced himself as Khan Mohammad, a resident of district Kohlu alleged, that eight members of his family were kidnapped by Sardar Abdul Rahman Khetran in 2019 and they have been kept in his private jail since then. Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran is a provincial minister and the spokesperson of the ruling party, the Balochistan Awami Party. In the video, Mr. Khan Mohammad alleged that Mr. Khetran raped his daughter and is torturing his family. He also said that he has a voice record of Mr. Khetran’s to back his claim.
In Balochistan, powerful and influential people and clans often victimize poor people without fear of accountability. Such cases had been filed in the past too but the powerful always get away with the crime by bribing and influencing the police. In September 2020, a woman journalist Shaheena Shaheen was shot dead by her husband, Mehrab Gichki, in Kech district of Balochistan. Though the police filed the case against her husband but no further action has been taken to arrest Mr Gichki. He is still on the run. Moreover, the Aurat Foundation, a women rights’ organization, in its report of the year 2021 stated that at least 57 women have been killed in Balochistan in 2021 alone, which is alarming.
We call upon the government to thoroughly investigate both cases of Mrs Hani Sasoli and Khan Mohammad’s family and bring the perpetrators to justice.
