PAKISTAN: A lawyer and his cousin were killed after their disappearances, another lawyer and four persons remain missing after their abduction

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the bodies of a lawyer and his cousin from Balochistan province have been found. Both bodies bore marks of severe torture. They had been allegedly arrested by the Frontier Corp (FC), a paramilitary force of Pakistan. Another lawyer and four other persons were also taken into custody and have since disappeared. The police have refused to file cases of their disappearances. There are also reports of an increase in the abductions of students and activists by plain clothe persons. 

CASE NARRATIVE: 

Mr. Zaman Marri, aged 38, a lawyer by profession, was abducted on 19 August 2010 near his law office on Jinnah Road, Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, while he was on his way home to Killi Kamaloo, in the outskirts of Quetta. At around 7pm, as he was leaving office with his cousin, two vehicles blocked him and plain clothed persons threw him inside a van. The bystanders protested and tried to stop the van from leaving but the plain clothed persons identified themselves as the officials from the FC (Frontier Corp) and threatened to use their firearms.

The Balochistan High Court Bar Association and lawyers from all over the province protested his abduction and disappearance. The lawyers also boycotted the courts and the Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court took suo moto action against his disappearance. He issued notices to the government and the commander of the FC.

On 5 September, Zaman Marri’s bullet-riddled body was found in the Ghuncha Dhori area of Mastung city, 40 kilometers away from Quetta city. His body was so badly mutilated it could not be identified. The officials of the Levy force, a provincial law enforcement agency, shifted the body to Bolan Medical Hospital, Quetta, for identification. The next day Zaman’s brother recognized his body. The cause of death was thought to be a bullet to his head. But the hospital authorities confirmed that the body bore marks of severe torture on his face and chest. There were also bruising and lacerations on his wrists and ankles indicating that he had been shackled at some point.

Zaman Marri had been representing many Baloch political detainees and disappeared persons without charge. He had been receiving threats from unknown callers not to follow up the cases of disappearances in the High Courts.

Mr. Zaman Marri was also pursuing a case on behalf of his cousin, Mr. Ali Ahmed Marri alias Alliya Marri, who was arrested by plain clothed persons on 7 April along with his three friends, Kamal Khan Marri, Lala Marri and Lal Mohammd Marri. At the time they were on their way home to Killi Kamaloo, Quetta, from Hazar Ganji fruit and vegetable market when the plain clothed persons who identified themselves as FC officials stopped their car on the Hazar Ganji link road. They were immediately blindfolded and put into a vehicle that been waiting for them at the FC check post. Their Alto car had also been taken away. A few hours later a relative of the abducted men, Mr Azad Marri, was also detained as he was traveling to the Shalkot police station to register an FIR against the forced-disappearance of his relatives. Like the other man Azad was also first stopped by the FC near Qambarani road check post and later handed over to the intelligence agencies.

On 11 September, Alliya Marri’s mutilated body was found in the same area where Zaman Marri’s body had been found. According to his family Alliya Marri’s body was mutilated and he had been brutally tortured. Nobody would have been able to recognise him if his Pakistani official captors had not put a letter in his pocket with his name written on it. The eye-witnesses said that the cause of death could well have been the result of brutal torture and it is suspected that the single shot to his head was post mortem.

The three other persons travelling with Alliya Marri, Mr. Kamal Khan Marri, Mr. Lala Marri and Mr. Lal Mohammd Marri are still missing and their car has been ceased by the FC.

The Balochistan High Court Bar Association says that another lawyer, Mr. Muneer Mirwani was arrested in July in the presence of another lawyer, Mr. Salam Baloch, allegedly by the FC. He was picked up at 7pm when he was going from his law chamber to his home and since then his whereabouts are unknown. The Bar Association says that there is no rule of law in the province and people are caught between paramilitary forces and militants. The administration is not cooperating for the recovery of the disappeared lawyer and the Bar Association fears that he would be killed during his detention.

Zakir Baloch Bangulzai, a Baloch student, from the Baloch Student Organization Azad was arrested on 9 September, from a medical store by armed men, in Mastung city of Balochistan, and since then his whereabouts are unknown. The eye-witnesses say that armed men, allegedly from the security forces, came in three cars and forcefully took him into custody. Bangulzai’s relatives tried to file a complaint in police station to lodge FIR (First Information Report) but the police refused to accept it.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

The government is failing to take appropriate actions concerning many cases of disappearance across the country. The government has formed a three member committee to probe the cases of disappearances headed by a former judge of the Supreme Court but the committee could not completed its inquiries during the prescribed time because of the involvement of powerful state intelligence agencies that are known to be involved in the cases of the forced disappearances.

The country is beset by grave and widespread human rights violations by various State-agencies and institutions, notably by the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the military and Frontier Corps that have reputations for committing widespread gross human rights abuses. Thousands of persons are missing as the result of forced disappearances committed all across the country, in particular in conflict-affected areas, such as Balochistan province. Furthermore, as Pakistan is firmly lodged at the front lines of international conflicts such as those affecting Afghanistan and security operations under the United States’ so-called war on terror, many persons are also missing in relation to these international phenomena, adding further complexity to an already difficult domestic problem.

The exact number of missing persons and victims of forced disappearance is difficult to independently verify, notably due to difficulties in access and security considerations and many parts of the country. However, different estimates by nationalist groups, fundamentalist religious organizations and different human rights organizations, claim that as many as 8000 cases of missing persons have been reported since the start of the war on terror from different parts of the country. In Balochistan province alone, over 4000 persons are reportedly missing and disappearances continue to be perpetrated, notably by paramilitary forces. In Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, Azad Kashmir, numerous disappearances are also reportedly being committed, notably by the state intelligence agencies, which arrest and disappear persons who refuse to join the “Jihad” against Indian-held Kashmir.

Since the outset of the war on terror, the Khaiber Pakhtoon Kha province, formally known as North West Frontier Province (NWFP), has been the scene of heightened disappearances, including those conducted in connivance with foreign forces; around 1000 persons belonging to fundamentalist religious groups are missing or dead. In Sindh province, over 100 Sindhi nationalists are thought to have been arrested, and remain disappeared but are believed to be being held in military torture cells. In Punjab, most disappeared persons reportedly belong to religious militant groups. The phenomenon of disappearances and missing persons is multi-faceted, but is accompanied by a lack of effective, credible actions by the authorities and impunity across the board.

SUGGESTED ACTION: 
Please write to the authorities asking them to conduct a proper enquiry in to the case of the abduction and killing of lawyers and activists from Balochistan by security forces. Please urge them to stop the menace of disappearances from the province by the law enforcement agencies particularly by the Frontier Corps. They must make arrangements for the release of the persons who are held incommunicado by the FC and prosecute officials who are responsible for the killings of disappeared person.

The AHRC writes a separate letter to UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearance, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment calling for their urgent intervention into this case.

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