A man named Murad Khan Marri was arrested near his house on June 27, 2009. Since then he was kept incommunicado in secret detention and was thought to have disappeared. His name was entered into the official list of missing persons. On March 27th 2010 the Frontier Corp claimed that he had been arrested trying to enter the country from Afghanistan. On this basis the Frontier Corp attempted to claim the reward money. This case clearly exposes the practice of illegal arrest, illegal detention in secret prisons and the exploitation of this later for claiming rewards. All these are sinister practices that violate the basic norms of decency and the human rights of citizens. This entire episode needs to be seriously investigated and all the perpetrators brought to justice. The victim needs to be compensated for the ordeal he has been exposed to.
The details of the incident are as follows:
In the case of a missing person, Mr. Murad Khan Marri, who was recovered eight months after his disappearance, a conflict has arisen between the government of Balochistan province and the Frontier Corp (FC) on the head money (reward) for his capture. The FC has shown that they arrested Mr. Marri on March 27, 2010 and are demanding that the Provincial Ministry of the Interior hand over the Rs. 3 Million (USD 36,585) which was announced by the provincial government last year. However, the Ministry claims that Mr. Marri has been missing since June 2009 and that his name was mentioned in the official list of missing persons. Therefore, the Ministry is claiming that it cannot arrange such a large amount without a proper investigation.
Mr. Murad Khan Marri was abducted by the plain clothe persons in an unregistered Toyota van, which is generally used by the FC for abducting the persons, on June 27, 2009 and was missing since then. Please see urgent appeal: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2010/3407/
His name was also mentioned in the list of missing persons compiled by the National Crisis Management Cell, of the government of Pakistan and was also mentioned in the provincial governments list. Then on March 27, Colonel Asad Shehzad Khatak of the FC held a press conference in which he presented Mr. Murad Khan Marri and announced that he was arrested with deadly weapons and Indian currency while attempting to cross the Afghan border in to Pakistan. Please also see the link about his re-disappearance: http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2010statements/2504/
After the issuance of the urgent appeal and statement, on April 22 the FC produced Mr. Marri at the Anti Terrorist Court (ATC), Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, and took his judicial remand up to May 8. No one from his family knew about his production in the ATC. Mr. Marri asked one police man, in the name of Allah, to inform his lawyer about his production and his transfer from the Hand police station, Chaman district, to the ATC jail in Quetta, capital of Balochistan.
Immediately after his so-called arrest, the Inspector General (IG) of the FC requested in writing that the government of Balochistan arrange the head money of Rs. 3 million as the reward for his arrest. But the Ministry of the Interior had doubts about the speed with which the requisition of the head money was made and did not entertain the request. The Ministry said that it could not provide money for those persons whose names are already on the official list of missing persons.
The Deputy Director, provincial Ministry of the Interior, stated that the Ministry has withdrawn the offer of head money as Mr. Marri’s name is in the official list of missing persons. Also, as his disappearance case is pending before the High Court of Balochistan for which an FIR has been filed and his family held a press conference in which they stated that he was in the custody of a state intelligence agency no money can be paid until there is an enquiry. The Ministry has now sent the request of the FC to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) for further investigation. The JIT consists of members of the ISI, Military Intelligence (MI), the Federal Investigation Unit (FIU) and Central Investigation Agency (CIA) in Balochistan province, along with the Inspector General of Police (IG) in Balochistan and the District Police Officer (DPO) of Quetta district.
The ministrys official also stated that the Ministry has written a letter on April 6, to the regional police officer (RPO) Pashin district, to get confirmation from the JIT but had not received a reply after 15 days, therefore, ministry had issued a reminder to RPO.
The offer of head money on Mr. Murad Khan Marri was issued at the request of the Provincial Police Officer (PPO), in December 2009. The official sources say that the FC pressurize the provincial police to announce head money on missing persons and then produce them as if they were recently arrested. In the case of Mr. Marri, the FC was pressuring the Ministry of the Interior to disburse the head money but when nothing happened the IG of the FC, Brigadier Salim Nawaz, made rewards to officials of the FC for arresting a missing person.
Recently the provincial police allegedly, with the connivance of the FC, issued an advertisement of reward money of Rs. 5 million for providing information for the arrest of 12 persons. But the government of Balochistan also objected to this on the grounds that the names of 12 persons are already mentioned in the official list of missing persons.
The most interesting thing in the so called arrest of Murad Khan Marri is that on March 27 a high official of the FC, Colonel Asad Shehzad Khatak, held an press conference and produced Mr. Marri before the media but did not allow him to talk to media persons. The Colonel said in the press conference that Mr. Marri was wanted in connection to the murder of six Chinese engineers and when he was arrested he was carrying Indian currency and explosives. But, one day after his press conference a FIR was lodged at Hund police station by one Major Mohammad Khan and the FIR does not mention that he was booked in the murder of six Chinese. The press conference by the Colonel was shown on every television channel and was published in newspapers.
The FIR was also apparently made in haste and mentions that he was captured at night from a car with two accomplices who took benefit of the darkness, escaped and crossed the Afghanistan border. The FIR goes on to say that he was wearing a local jacket and from the right hand side pocket four hand grenades were recovered. From the left side of the jacket one TT pistol of 30 bore was recovered with live cartridges and another 30 bullets inside the pocket. From another pocket, inside the jacket, were recovered two cotton packed electric devices along with a brown envelop in which was found six detonator caps. He was wearing a piece of cloth around his waist and from it an explosive and a detonator were found. He was also carrying packets of Hashish and Indian currency to the value of Rs 1000.
