PAKISTAN: UN must probe massacre

9 August, 2016

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PAKISTAN: UN must probe massacre of 97 persons including 63 lawyers by in the bomb attack on a hospital in Quetta, Balochistan

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), joins everyone who is shocked and dismayed by the senseless and brutal attack on civilians which according to the Balochistan Bar Association, has killed 97 persons which includes 63 lawyers and injured more than 120 persons including women and children. The attack preceded the assassination of the President of the Bar Association of Balochistan, Mr Bilal Anwar Kansi who called for a boycott of the Balochistan Courts, in solidarity of another lawyer who was assassinated two days before.

The massacre took place when a large crowd including many lawyers have gathered to pay respects to the assassinated President of the Bar Association.

The lawyers have been at the forefront of a campaign demanding the government to take effective action against those whore involved with violence in the region which has involved also the assassination of many persons. During the past recent months, there had been constant acts of violence disturbing the peace and the stability in the area.

This attack is one of the worst massacres which has taken place in Balochistan, in Pakistan. Prior to the attack there had been calls on the military and the government to play a more positive role in suppressing terrorism in the area and to ensure security. However, both the military and the government has failed to take any special action despite of constant reports of violence and the causing of disturbances in the area. Clearly, the government has failed in its duty to protect the people and to maintain the rule of law.

Immediately following the massacre the military according to reports, has authorised the intelligence services to make arrests as they wish throughout the country. Obviosu results of this would be the arrest of many innocent persons and given the previous record in these areas it would not be surprising if many enforced disappearances and extra judicial killings, would take place in the aftermath of this massacre.

The death toll has climbed to 97 according the leaders of Bar Associations of which 63 are lawyers, who had gone to the civil hospital Quetta to mourn the death of the President of Balochistan Bar Association, Mr. Bilal Anwar Kansi, who was killed by two assailants. Through the meticulously planned attach the terrorists have been successful in exposing the vulnerability of the so called fool proof National Action plan (NAP), a plan made by security establishment and civilian government to combat terrorism, which has thus far proved to be ineffective and unable to stop the attacks. Immediately after the attack Jammat ul Ahrar, a terrorist outfit of Taliban, took responsibility for the attack however the question on the minds of the victims was “who was supposed to protect them? Why does the government and agencies go on defensive after such attacks? Who is responsible for the blood bath and who is responsible to stem the tide of militant attacks?

Balochistan chief minister was quick to point fingers at RAW (Indian Intelligence agency) blaming it for the attack even before the dust from the debris has settled. The state rhetoric of blame game has been reiterated ad nauseam why does the state law enforcement spring into action after the damage has been done? Why aren’t any pre-emptive measures taken to ensure the safety and security of the common man?

The fact that the lawyers were specifically targeted to silence the voice of missing person, extra judicial killings and attacks on their houses by the law enforcement agencies including the Frontier Corp (FC) of Pakistan army, can’t be overlooked. The FC is there in Ballochistan since almost two decades and even has police power and it has check posts all over the province. Besides, FC all the 19 intelligence agencies are involved in operation against the terrorists. However, how it is impossible that agents of other countries can operate. Instead of asking about the failures of security establishment the government feels easy to relieve itself from the responsibility of safety and security of the people.

Is it a mere coincident that most of the targeted attacks this year have been against lawyers in Quetta? On June 8th June the principal of the law college Quetta Barrister Amanullah Achakzai was shot dead while On 2nd August 2016 Unknown assailants shot dead Jahanzeb Alvi, a prominent lawyer in Quetta. All of the attacks appear to be planned measures to silence the voice of dissent and pave way for the ambitious China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The vivacity with which the attack was condemned by the Government and Chief of Army staff condemned the attack fell flat when they termed the attack as “an attempt by the enemy to sabotage CPEC” the blood trail of the economic corridor appears to be lost on the Government. The innocent human lives lost as a result have no significance to the state that appears to be too pre occupied with its own bourgeois.

To guarantee the smooth commencement of the CPEC project the Federal government initiated a new phase of military operations in far-flung areas of Balochistan, where there is a general feeling that with the start of CPEC, the Balochi people will become a minority in their own province. The law enforcement and intelligence agencies are given free hand to eliminate the terrorist “with full might”. Sadly, the authorities forgot to mention who are the terrorists? Is it the intelligentsia- lawyers, doctors, activist- who have been criticizing the state for its wholesale slaughter of the Balochis? Or is the “jet black” Taliban whom the state is out to eliminate?

It beats common sense that in a barricaded and cordoned city a planned murder of lawyers has been ongoing unabated right the nose of the law enforcement agencies yet no one has been apprehended? How is it possible that in the presence of check posts and barracks after every 1 kilometre distance the terrorist manages to go scot free? Doesn’t the inaction of the state amounts to silent assent to continue with the barbarity of grotesque proportion?
It is a great loss not only for the Balochistan province but also for the lawyer’s community who feels threatened by the continuous attacks as it is a message from the state that the legal community will be dealt in this way if they go for rule of law, constitutional rights and hinders the absolute power of the state.

The assassinated lawyers were from lower middle class and all were activists who felt their responsibility for fighting the constitutional rights of the missing persons, victims of extra judicial killings and unabated powers of the law enforcement agencies who the province as their colony.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the United Nations (UN) to hold a probe in to the planned killings of lawyers, through suicide attacks and target killings, in Balochistan where the state is conducting operations since 14 years and there are thousands of cases of arbitrary arrests, disappearances and extra judicial killings. It is not possible that government of Pakistan can have an impartial and transparent inquiry in to the incidents as it is itself a party in the violations of human rights. There are more than two inquiry commissions were formed for the probe of enforced disappearances who completed their work in 2014 but still the reports have not been made public and government does not have any intention to release the reports. Further to it Supreme Court was hearing the cases of disappearances since 2005 but the menace is continued and supreme court was not able to to bring the perpetrators of enforced disappearances before the court of law.

The AHRC also urges the lawyers from around the world to raise the issue of killings of legal community at global level and show their solidarity with the beleaguered lawyers of the Pakistan who are being punished for the constitutional rights of the people and striving for the democracy.

ends

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