24 activists were among those who were extra judicially killed after their abduction by uniformed and plain clothe persons
The extra judicial killings of the journalists, writers, human rights defenders, students and activists continue in the Balochistan area where law enforcement responsibilities were handed over to the Frontier Cop (FC) and the state intelligence agencies. During the first four months of the year 2011, as many 25 journalists, writers, human rights defenders, students, and nationalists and political activists were killed extra judicially.
In the latest extra judicial killing, one prominent human rights defender and journalist, Mr. Siddique Eido and his friend, Mr. Yousaf Nazar Baloch, who were arrested by the FC and police on December 21, 2010, his and his friend’s mutilated body was found on April 28 at Makran coastal highway near Ormara, Balochistan province. On the day of his abduction, Eido went to the District and Session court of Gwader, port city of the province, and was returning back to his home in sub-district Pasni, Gwader in the security of five policemen, including one Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) and four police constables. As they reached the check post of FC in Karwat area on coastal highway, he was stopped by the officials of the FC and he with his friend, Mr. Yousuf Langove, were dragged into a van. The policemen tried to protect them but were severely beaten by the Frontier Cops and kept in custody for some hours. In the meanwhile, Eido and his friend were sent to an unknown location.
It is ironic that after the formation of the civil government the Para-Military forces and state intelligence agencies are operating in Balochistan in the same fashion as they were doing during the military rule of General Musharraf by abducting the activists, keeping them in unknown places for many months and then throwing their bullet mutilated bodies on the road. But a new phase has been started since the recent months in that activists were abducted from the open places or from their houses and then their whereabouts were not known. But after some days of their abduction their bullet riddled and torture marked bodies are found. The common thing in the extra judicial killings is the mark of bullets on the foreheads of the victims besides marks on the other parts of the body.
During the hearing the three member bench of the Supreme Court, the family members of the disappeared persons said that when ever anybody is found on the road side in anywhere in Balochistan, the largest province of the country, they rush to see whether the body is of their loved ones who has been missing after his arrest or abduction. They said they want to know whether their missing persons are alive or dead.
According to the available information, the AHRC has found that during the first four months of the year 2011, about 25 activists including human rights defenders, journalists, students, writers, workers from nationalists and political parties were extra judicially killed and out of this figure 24 activists were those who were arrested or abducted by the law enforcement agencies particularly from the Frontier Corp (FC) and intelligence agencies and most of them were even abducted in the presence of police. The only one human rights defender, Mr. Naeem Sabir Baloch, the district coordinator of Human Right Commission of Pakistan, was killed outside his house by unknown persons. He was the activist from the Balochistan who was assisting in compiling the list of the missing persons in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and High court of Baqlochistan province
According to the list following are the activists who were extra judicially killed during the months from January 2011 to 28 April;
Mr. Hameed Shaheen, student, his bullet riddled body was found on March 22, 2011from Saddar Karez area of Quette. On 20 March 2011, he was abducted by the security personnel in both uniform and plain clothes stopped the bus near Sona Khan Police Station Quetta when he was on the way to Karachi for his medical check-up by bus. Since then his whereabouts were not known.
Fareed Baloch, son of Haleem Ahmed Balcoh,a student, was abducted on February 2011 allegedly by personnel of state agencies. He was student of Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology Khuzdar and Zonal president of the Baloch Students Organization (BSO Azad). On 27 March his bullet riddled body was found at Ferozabad nullah of Khuzdar District some 360 km away from Quetta of Balochistan province. There were also marks of torture on his body. Mr. Fareed Ahmed Baloch, was abducted from outside the check post of Frontier Corps (FC) at Sariab road, Quetta, capital of the province, on February 9 after 6 pm when he was travelling with his cousin in a three wheeler. He was stopped at the check point by the FC persons along with some persons who were in plain clothes and taken away in a jeep bearing no registration number. His cousin, Mr. Changez Gichki was beaten at the post when he tried to intervene and his cell phone was also snatched along with his wallet.
Mr. Saleh Muhammad, son of Nuroz Khan, the activist of Baloch Nationalist Movement (BNM) was abducted from a passenger van by plain cloth persons in Bariat area of Awaran district, Balochistan, on 27 March his bullet riddled body was found in a mountainous area of Awaran.
Arif Noor, son of Noor Muhammad Baloch, a public officer at Gwadar Development Authority (GDA), was abducted on 31 October 2010 in the presence of his mother, sister and other family members by the Karachi police and intelligence agencies from his residence in Karachi of Sindh province, he was an employed as a 16 grade officer in. He suffered an accident and after that he came to his home in Jaffer Aziz apartment Garden East Karachi where his parents and other family members are living. After two months bed rest he was kidnapped. On 23 March his bullet riddled body was from Windar area near Hub industrial town of Balochistana province.
The body of Muhammad Nawaz Marri, a nationalist, was found on 5 January, 2011, just inches away from Arif Noor Bloch’s body. His body has marks of extreme torture and there were bullet wounds to his head. He was abducted from Lasbella , Balochistan, while he was returning to his home from work.
Mr. Yasir, son of Haji Nasir, a student, resident of Gawader, was an activist of Baloch Student Organization (BSO Azad) abducted from Gawader port city of the province on 29 October 2010. Regarding his disappearance a case was registered in Gawader police station. On 9 March 2011 his bullet riddled body was found from Murgap. There were drill wounds and torture marks on his body and two bullets wounds on his chest.
Deen Muhammad Marri, 55, son of Sher Muhammad Marri, was a baloch activist abducted from Hub Sakran No, 6 on 28 February 2011, along with his two friends Shareef Marri and Haji Azal Khan Marri. Later Haji Azal Khan was released and Muhammad Shareef Marri is still missing. Deen Muhammad’s body was found on 8 March 2011 from Zero point Liari he received two bullets on his head and torture marks were on his body. Deen Muhammad was abducted first time on 5 February 2008, and released on 6 October 2008. After first arrest he told the media that he was abducted by law enforcement agencies and kept in a torture cell where he was tortured.
Faiz Muhammad Marri, son of Jalal Marri an activist of Baloch Republic Party, was abducted from Karachi on 6 November 2010. His bullet riddled body was found on 2 February 2011, from Dasht Mastung District, Balochistan province. One bullet shot was found on his forehead.
Nuroze Khan, son of Allah Baksh was found March 22 from Jiwan area of Kalat District, Balochistan. His body has the bullet marks.
Naeem Sabir Baloch, the district coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), an NGO, was gunned down on March 1, 2011 in Khuzdar market, Khuzdar district, Balochistan. When he was standing in front of his shop unknown persons wearing masks and riding a motorbike opened fire at him. Mr. Sabir was struck by several bullets and passed away on the spot. Following the shooting the assailants fled the scene.
The bullet riddled body of Mr. Mahboob Ali Wadela was found on February 23, 2011, from Hadh Cross, Ormara town of Gwader district in an abandoned area. The body bored bullet and marks of torture. He was a senior member of the Baloch National Movement (BNM) which is part of the Baloch National Front (BNF), a nationalist movement struggling for greater autonomy of the province. He had been traveling in a passenger vehicle in Karachi bound for Gwader, a port city in Balochistan on 2 April, 2010 for just a few minutes when it was stopped by uniformed police from Maripur station in Yousuf Goth. According to passengers on the bus two vans resembling army vehicles arrived at the scene almost immediately and plain-clothed persons emerged and began to check the identity cards of the passengers. When they came upon Mahboob they reportedly pulled him from the bus with his luggage and drove him away in one of the unmarked vehicles. The passenger vehicle was then prevented from leaving the area by police for some time.
Arif Rehman’s bullet marked body was found along with Mehboob Wadhela on February 23. He was abducted on September 3, 2010 from Ranchore Line Karachi while he was returning home after some medical checkups of his relative from a local Karachi hospital. During his abduction onlookers tried to resist the abductors who were in police uniforms and plainclothes. The people who attempted to help were threatened and told not to interfere. Rehman was an activist of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP). His family staged a long hunger strike for his safe recovery which lasted for 100 days.
The bullet riddled body of Jameel Yaqoob was found from Turbat district on February 11. He was abducted on August 28, 2010 by people in uniform and plain clothes from a motor service station at 4 am. The family members alleged that security persons carried out the abduction after they identified one of the men as being from the state intelligence agency. Yaqoob was activist of the Balochistan Nationalist Party (BNP).
Comrade Qayyume, a student, had been missing since December 11, 2010 after he was abducted from his uncle’s house at Gwader, port city by the security forces as claimed by his family members. His bullet riddled body was found from Heronik district Turbat on February 11, 2011. Comrade was member of the organising committee of BSO-Azad.
Saeed Ahmed Mengal of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) had been missing since September after his arrest from his house at Hub district. His bullet riddled body was found in Koshak, district Khuzdar, on February 14, 2011 in the bed of a dried river.
Mutilated bodies of Mr. Qambar Chakar and Mr. Ilyas Nazar were found near Turbat on January 5, 2011. Both the bodies clearly showed signs of severe torture with several bullets shot in the head. Chakar, 24, a student of Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS) was abducted on November 26, 2010 for the second time.
Mr. Ilyas Nazar, 26, a journalist, was whisked away by the Pakistani paramilitary forces on December 22, 2010.
Arzi Khan, son of Mehar Khan Marri, a student, was abducted by men in uniform and plain clothe in December 2010. His bullet riddle body was found on February 10, 2011 from Uthal district’s far flung area of kehnwari on the main national high way. An FIR regarding his abduction was lodged at the Hub police station despite the fact that his body was found far away from this area.
Three more bullet riddle bodies were found on April 25, 2011 from the Turbat and Khuzdar districts of the province. They were abducted on the different dates of April 2011. All of them were from Baloch Republican Party. Their names are; according to the report published in Dauly Jang, the largest circulated newspaper, Mohammad Aube Husni, Ghulam Murtaza Zehri and Hafeez Bajoi. Their ages were ranging from 25 to 30 years.
The bullet riddled body of Zareef Faraz,a poet and editor of quarterly literary magazine, the Shabjoo, was found on April 25, 2011 from Turbat. According to the media reports, Zareef was abducted one week before his killing and he was abducted when he was going in a passenger bus by uniform and plain clothe persons.
Sami Ahmed’s body was also found with the body of Zareef, he was from Tump sub district of province.
The bodies of Siddique Eido and Yousuf were found on April 28.
According to the journalist body, since November 2010 to till five journalists were killed extra judicially and all were recovered from the Makran division of Balochistan.
Baloch Voice of Missing persons, an organization compiling the record of missing person, claims that around 149 persons were killed through extra judicial killings by the state agencies. Please also see the statement of AHRC dated November 24, 2010, about the rapid increase of extra judicial Killings in Balochistan.
Enforced disappearances, illegal detention, torture, extra judicial and in-custody killings have become rampant in Balochistan with a media blackout on the gruesome incidents.
Since last year a new trend of enforced disappearances has been observed, with Baloch activists being abducted by law enforcement officials and kept incommunicado for several days. After a while, it is learnt that they had been extra judicially killed. This method makes it easy for the abductors to wash away all evidence of the disappearance: no question of FIRs, legal process or blame. Widespread disappearances at the hands of the state agents started at the time of former President Musharraf. Now under a civilian government, this phenomenon continued and the disappearances are followed by extrajudicial killings, in particular in the province of Balochistan.
The Government must take immediate steps to stop the large scale assassinations and disappearances taking place in Balochistan. Immediate steps must be taken to inquire into the killings and lawlessness prevailing in this area. The government must take extraordinary steps to stop this carnage. United Nations human rights agencies should also regard the situation in Balochistan as an exceptional one and must work towards getting the situation under control. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings should seek an opportunity to visit the region and to inquire into the matter. Local and international human rights organizations should demand immediate action from the government and the international community to deal with this extraordinary situation.
