Unabated human rights violations continue in Balochistan

The humanitarian situation in Balochistan continues to deteriorate. Policies of security establishment have made Balochistan a slaughter house for the people of Balochistan. Moreover, the government continues to shield forces action while the incompetency of Ministry of Human Rights prevails.

On March 23, 2019, Intelligence officials picked Dr. Zafar Saleem, a doctor by profession from Turbat, the district headquarter of Kech. Later, in May 2019, he was released in a very critical condition, bearing several marks of torture during detention. He was brought to a hospital in Karachi where doctors declared his head injury, sustained during torture, lethal. He remained under treatment for 4 months and on September 2, he died in hospital.

Dr. Zafar served as a doctor in Bal Nigwar area of Dasht. He later resigned and ran his own business.

In another incident on September 4, Usman Maqbool and his cousin Doda Rashid was abducted by Shahmeer Aziz head of Lashkar-e-Khurasan, an organization claimed to be affiliated with ISIS, from Pidrak area of Kech district.

According to details, two vehicles occupied by armed men stopped their car in Pidrak and after severely beating them whisked them away, leaving behind Usman Maqbool minor son.

Later, both were handed over to Frontier Corps, a Para-Military force responsible for the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial execution of political activists in Balochistan. Their whereabouts are unknown since then.

On September 10, 2019, Army captured Mir Ali Mohammad Chakaradi when he returned home after attending a marriage ceremony in Washuk. He was dragged in front of his family and showered bullets on him.

Earlier, army forcibly disappeared 5 family members of Mir Ali Mohammad and demanded ransom money. He paid 6.5 million and in return, forces released 4 of them while whereabouts of one of them are still unknown.

Mir Ali Mohammad Chakaradi. Photo: BHRO

In another case of inhuman treatment, Hammal Murad, a newlywed groom was forcibly disappeared along with 7 other people from Tank Gazzi area of Mashkay in Awaran district 20 days ago. The other abductees were identified as Wali Khair Jan, Boor Jan Khair Jan, Haibathan Khair Jan, Gulab Murad, Saadullah Murad, Ali Murad and Baran Jamal.

On September 9, the Pakistan army brought Hammal Murad dead body back to his home and showed his dead body to his parents. Hammal Murad’s family was denied to perform his last rituals and took him back to Ooghaar military camp where he was buried in a graveyard beside the camp.

The whereabouts of other abductees remain unknown while Baran Jamal was released on September 9, 2019.

Pakistan army continues to commit crimes against humanity with impunity. Arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial execution, fake encounters, custodial killings are the practice of every day in Balochistan.

In 2015, two teenagers, Nadil Dur Mohammad, 14, and Azeem Hammal, 16, was shot dead by the army when they were in search of their lost sheep in Geshkor area of Awaran district. Their bodies were later tied with army vehicle and dragged for several kilometers.

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.