Baloch Human Rights Organization (BHRO) declared the statement of Justice® Javed Iqbal, Chairman of missing persons commission, irresponsible and misleading. Balochistan is going through the worst humanitarian situation where the enforced disappearance of people are continued for last one decade in which thousands of people are forcibly disappeared by security forces.
The Spokesperson of Baloch Human Rights Organization said that Justice® Javed Iqbal while briefing to Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights claimed that the commission has received 5000 enforced disappearance cases in which 3800 are dealt with. On the contrary, the commission didn’t publish any of such reports or share with the human rights organizations in Pakistan including the Baloch Human Rights Organization. By quoting the issue of enforced disappearances a politicized matter, Justice Iqbal has made the commission biased and it raises questions on the credibility of the commission.
Justice® Javed Iqbal added, “In Balochistan, there are merely 131 cases regarding missing persons being heard and in a number of instances, the commission had found that people are picked up by rival tribes due to personal enmity”. BHRO believes that these statements are deceptive and misleading and has caused severe trauma to the victims’ families. Baloch Human Rights Organization has received 599 enforced disappearance cases until July this year only.
In October 2017, Justice Iqbal has made a similar statement to distort the truth. The commission should have visited Balochistan and families of enforced disappeared. The incident of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial executions in Balochistan is still continued. On July 22, 2017, Noor Malik along with her 2 daughters Haseena and Sameena and teenage son Zameer was abducted by security forces from district Awaran and are still missing.
On August 25, 2018, forces abducted Sadiq Umer s/o Molvi Mohammed Umer from Gajjar Mashkayon the day of his marriage. He was released the next day and on August 27, 2018, he was again whisked away by forces. Sadiq’s 2 elder brothers Sajid Umer and Majid Umer are extrajudicially killed by forces before. The family has a serious concern about the life of Sadiq too.
On August 18, 2018, a mutilated body was recovered from Steel Town Karachi in bag sack. Later, he was identified as Mohammad Bakhsh s/o Kalmali. Mohammad Bakhsh was abducted by security forces in front of Awaran Military Camp in early 2015. He remained disappeared in all these years.
The Government of Pakistan should show some responsibility towards people of Balochistan. Thousands of activists are in the custody of forces for years. Human lives are at stake in Balochistan. Misleading the world will not address the issue of human rights violations in Balochistan rather people will lose faith in institutions.
