PAKISTAN:Lawyer & activists disappeared by security agencies

November 28, 2013

PAKISTAN: A prominent lawyer and five other activists were disappeared after their arrest by persons from security agencies

With the change in Army command on November 27, a crackdown against the people in Balochistan started. A prominent lawyer, Mr. Haider KB son of Khuda Bux age 33, resident of Koshkalat, was arrested by plain clothed persons riding in a non registered two door jeep. The police stations in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, deny his arrest. Police say when forces from security agencies abduct persons they do not bring them to any police station, such agencies keep arrested persons in their own custody. Mr. KB was the member of Kech Bar Association and he was also a member of the HRCP Especial Task Force and as well the director of the English Language Center. After leaving Court on the way to his home he was abducted in the middle of Chahsir and Dashti Market. The lawyers from Balochistan have boycotted the court proceeding in protest of his abduction. The different nationalist and political groups have also staged demonstration in protest of his arbitrary arrest.

The security forces also abducted five activists from Sui, Dera Bugti, Balochistan in the afternoon of the same day. The abducted persons are 1. Mengal son of Jalalan.2 Chanchol son of Mengal.3 Latef son of Mangal.4 Murad son of Labba, and 5 Mahumad son of Guwaram Bugti. The Sui area has remained for many years under the direct military rule and the former governor of the province was killed in a bombardment by the former military regime of General Musharraf.

On November 27 the prime minister announced the new command of the Pakistan army by appointing General Raheel Sharif. The appointment has started yielding its results. On the other hand the chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftekhar Mohammad Choudhry has angrily followed the cases of disappearances and asked the Minister of Defence to appear before the court on November 28 and produce 35 missing persons who were handed over to Pakistan by the Afghan authorities in 2009. Since then they have not been seen or accounted for. The latest crackdown against Baloch people is a clear message to the Supreme Court by abducting activists.

Balochistan remained the worst victim of disappearances and extra judicial killings since year 2000 when former military regime started its military operation in the province. According to official figures there are 2500 persons are missing where as the Quetta Bar Association claims that 5000 cases of missing persons are pending. The Voice of Baloch Missing Persons mentions 14,000 persons are missing since 2000 after their arrest by Frontier Corp and state Intelligence Agencies.

From 2008 a new phenomenon was introduced in cases of disappearances by the extrajudicial killing of missing persons. From July 2010 to July 2013, according to official statistic, 590 missing persons were extrajudicially killed. However according to Baloch nationalists 760 persons have been extrajudicially killed to date.

The military establishment has faced tough resistance from secular Baloch nationalist groups for most periods of Pakistan’s history but that resistance turned into a province wide insurgency after a leading Baloch leader Akbar Bugti was killed in a military operation in 2006. Instead of seeking a political solution, Pakistan’s security establishment started a ruthless campaign of crushing the dissidents and insurgents through all possible means.

The governments, civil and military, use militaristic methods to ‘solve’ the political issue. Legal and diplomatic methods are ignored by the democratic governments. The rule of law has been hounded into nonexistence by the military and its spy agencies. The Frontier Corps (FC) has been given the power of police in an effort to handle the long conflict. There is no serious effort to reform a century old criminal justice system. Balochistan is seen as the issue of law and order, and not as a land with humans denied their fundamental rights, particularly the right of autonomy over their resources.

In view of the apparent lack of action on behalf of the judicial and government authorities, family members of the disappeared, brutalized, and killed have lost all confidence in the institutions of justice.

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

Visit our new website with more features at www.humanrights.asia.

ENDS

© Scoop Media