PAKISTAN: Prominent fisher folk leader disappeared after arrest by Pakistan Rangers

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the disappearance of  a fisher folk leader after his arrest by the Pakistan Rangers. He was the general secretary of Pakistan Fisher Folk, and an employee of the Fishermen Cooperative Society. Senior Rangers officials at the zonal office called Saeed Baloch to their office in Kemari on the evening of 16 January 2016. Mr. Baloch told his colleagues that he was in the custody of the Rangers and after that his phone was found to be switched off. The next day a Rangers spokesperson denied Mr. Baloch’s arrest. Fifty-one right based organisations and movements in Asia have condemned his arrest and disappearance and demanded his immediate and safe recovery.

CASE NARRATIVE:

A noted human rights activist, labor unionist and movement leader, Mr. Saeed Baloch, 52, was “invited” for questioning by the Pakistan Rangers last Saturday afternoon, and has been detained since, allegedly for financing gang wars in the Sindh provincial capital. However, when media contacted the Pakistan Rangers headquarters at Karachi, the spokesperson denied his arrest and said that he is no more with the Rangers. The Sindh police also deny his arrest. 

Mr. Baloch is the elected Secretary General of a social movement, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), member of the executive council of World Fisher People (an umbrella of world’s fishermen organisations), Secretary General of the workers’ union of the Fishermen’s Cooperative Society (FCS), member of Human Rights of Pakistan (HRCP) and a number of other national and international forums that work for human rights, peoples movements, climate justice. The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) is a powerful social movement, with more than 70,000 members across four million fisherfolk communities in the country.

Mr. Saeed has been working for the rights of the fisher folk and challenging/confronting a number of state policies and those of the Fisherman’s Cooperative Society. The FCS has become notorious for its fund embezzlement and human trafficking, organized crimes in connivance with the Pakistan Rangers. Mr. Saeed has time and again raised his voice against the corruption which resulted in his arrest.

Mr. Saeed has also been raising his voice through the platform of union workers and PFF against the corrupt administration/management of FCS. Together with other union leaders he also approached the Chief Secretary of Sindh to express his concerns about the mismanagement of the FCS. During the recent move of Pakistan Rangers against corruption and terrorism, some high officials including the acting Chairman of FCS were arrested by the Rangers.

On 16 January 2016, Mr. Baloch was called over the phone to visit the Rangers Office located at Maripur area of Karachi at 4:30 p.m. He managed to inform his colleagues over phone that he had been taken into custody of the Rangers. Since then, his cell is not responding. No charges have been framed against him to date. He has been kept under arbitrary detention by the Rangers at an undisclosed location.

The arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of Mr. Saeed reveals the dangers of handing over sweeping powers to military, paramilitary and law enforcement authorities under the draconian Anti-Terrorist and Protection of Pakistan Acts (PPA).The Rangers and other paramilitary and military officials often abduct a person keeping him under arbitrary detention and later seek remand of 90 days from the anti-terrorism courts under the draconian Pakistan Protection Ordinance (PPA). 

The archaic and faulty criminal justice system of Pakistan makes it possible for the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) to extend their tentacles wherever they deem fit, often seeking vengeance against those who dare uncover their tyrannical designs. Instead of actually tackling the material and ideological infrastructure of terrorism in the country, the authorities routinely abuse their powers to target those engaged in resistance to injustice and inequality.

Saeed Baloch is being punished for being a political activist and human rights advocate; he is being targeted under the guise of acting against ‘terrorism’. Mr. Baloch has been an ardent advocate for climate justice, water conservation and environmental protection and an outspoken opponent of coal and nuclear energy. In particular, he has also spoken out recently against the construction of two nuclear power plants on the outskirts of Karachi, a development that scientists say could pose grave and potentially catastrophic risks to the citizens and environment of the city.

Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights details the right to be free from arbitrary arrest and detention, and spells out the procedure to be followed in case of arrest and detention. Unfortunately, the said safeguards fail to protect the citizens of Pakistan from atrocities of the military and intelligence agencies, who have been given complete impunity to act arbitrarily without any regard to constitutional rights of citizens. Pakistan is increasingly becoming a police state where the basic rights are a luxury only the powerful and influential can afford.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The following 51 right based organisations from several Asian countries in a joint statement condemned Saeed Baloch’s arrest by the Rangers and demanded his immediate release:

Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development
Adivasi Mulvasi Astitva Raksha Manch, India
Aksi! for gender, social and ecological justice, Indonesia
All Nepal Peasants Federation, Nepal
All Nepal Women’s Association, Nepal
Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA), Regional (Korea)
Bangladesh Jatiyo Sramik Jote, Bangladesh
Bangladesh Krishok Federation
Bulig Visayas, Philippines
Campaign for Climate Justice Nepal, Nepal
Community Development Library, Bangladesh
Center for Environmental Justice, Sri Lanka
Debt Watch, Indonesia
Equity and Justice Group Bangladesh (EquityBD), Bangladesh
Focus on the Global South, Regional (Thailand)
Freedom from Debt Coalition, Philippines
General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), Nepal
Gitib, Philippines
Himalaya Niti Abhiyan, India
Human Rights Alliance Nepal, Nepal
Indian Social Action Forum, India
Institute for Essential Services and Resources, Indonesia
Jagaran Nepal, Nepal
Jaringan Advokasi Tambang (JATAM/Mining Advocacy Network), Indonesia
Koalisi Anti Utang (Anti-Debt Coalition), Indonesia
Kerala Independent Fishworkers Federation, India
Koalisi Rakyat untuk Hak Atas Air (KRuHA/People’s Coalition for the Right to Water), Indonesia
LDC Watch, International (Nepal)
Migrant Forum in Asia, Regional (Philippines)
mines, minerals and PEOPLE, India
Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation, Malaysia
Nadi Gati Morcha, India
National Federation of Hawkers, Bangladesh
National Federation of Women Hawkers, India
National Hawkers Federation, India
Our Rivers Our Life, Philippines
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Pakistan
Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, Pakistan
Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, Philippines
River Basin Friends, India
Rural Reconstruction Nepal, Nepal
Sanlakas, Philippines
Sawit Watch, Indonesia
SEAFISH for Justice, Regional (Philippines)
Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia
South Asian Alliance for Povery Eradication, Regional (Nepal)
Sushasoner Jonny Procharavizan (SUPRO), Bangladesh
Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, Philippines
Trade Union Policy Institute, Nepal
Unnayan Onneshan, Bangladesh
Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment (VOICE)

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the following authorities calling on them to immediately recover Mr. Saeed Baloch, the general secretary of Pakistan Fisherfolk who was arrested by the officials of the Pakistan Rangers. Please also urge them to initiate an enquiry into the illegal arrest of a human rights defender and prosecute the officials of Pakistan Rangers, Karachi, for disappearing him rather than producing him before the court of law.

The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances calling for his intervention into this matter.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER