No progress has been made in the investigation into the extrajudicial , Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, Sher Mohammad Baloch and Lala Muneer Jan Baloch, after their abduction by the persons from the military, frontier corps (FC) and intelligence agencies, on April 3, 2009 from their lawyers office. It is reported that the army and FC, who have been conducting operations in the province since 2002, are creating obstacles for the civilian administration to proceed in the case. The eye witnesses have been threatened by the officials of intelligence agencies and most of them have left their places of residence due to the lack of protection from the civilian government.
For further information on this case please see the following links;
http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2009/3145/
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/1984/
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a local NGO, arranged a fact finding mission to investigate the case. The results so far include the observation that as, per the eyewitness statements, previous abduction cases of the Baloch leaders show that the secret security forces of Pakistan were behind the disappearance of the three Baloch nationalist leaders. A first information report (FIR), a police case, was registered against the Inspector General of the frontier corps, a colonel of Military Intelligence (MI) and a major of the Inter Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) based in District Kech. It was further reported that the bodies of the three men were found in the Sadar police area, district Kech, which is 200 km away some from the Iranian Border, which strongly contradicts the statement of the Inspector General (IG) frontier corps that they were found near the Iranian border.
For further information on the fact finding mission by the HRCP please see: http://material.ahrchk.net/pakistan/AHRC-STM-212-2009-HRCPTurbatFactFindingRpt.pdf
A senator, Mr. Hasil Khan Bizenjo claims that the FIR was later changed and instead of including the names of state intelligence officers the FIR was filed against unknown persons. While the Balochistan high court formed a probe commission on the matter the commission consisted of those judges who took oath under General Musharrafs state of emergency and they were relieved by the decision of Supreme Court. Therefore, no further progress was made by the high court.
The conclusion of the independent inquiry of the HRCP, by its three member fact finding team, was that state intelligence agencies were involved in the abduction and extra judicial killings of the nationalist leaders. This reveals that the people have become more vocal and brave enough to provide eye witness accounts of the tyrannies of the Pakistan army. It also refutes the allegations of the military and Federal Minister of Interior that the murdered persons were wanted by the Iranian government and that they were Iranian nationals. The report also shows that the brutality of the army and its intelligence agencies has reached such a point when people are no longer afraid of arrest and disappearance by the intelligence agencies.
The security agencies tried to divert the issue of extra judicial killings by the state intelligence agencies in Balochistan province by claiming that the three were killed by the Iranian security forces when they were trying to enter Iran. The federal interior ministry has extradited more than 60 Pakistani Baloch nationals to Iran and among them, 22 were executed by hanging in public, particularly, in Zahedan city and Seestan province.
Many Baloch people have family members in Iran which treats them as members of the Jind Ullah, a militant arm of the Sunni sect of Muslims. The extradition of Balochi people is seen by the nationalist groups as a gift to President Ahmedenijad for his second term in office.
The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the government of President Asif Zardari to expedite the enquiry of abduction and extrajudicial killings of the three Baloch nationalists on April 3, 2009 and to order the arrest of the army, ISI and FC officials against whom a FIR was filed at Saddar police station at Kech district. The impunity provided by the government to law enforcement authorities for extra judicial killings is also against Pakistani laws and international norms. Pakistan is a party to the UN International Covenant on civil and political Rights (ICCPR) which makes it mandatory for the state parties to ensure the right to life. The extra judicial killings by the security agencies of the country is a clear violation of the right to life and for that reason Pakistan should come out with a clear stand against the misuse of authority by the security agencies and protect the people of Balochistan.
