Washington, Dec 3 (IANS) The long-standing insurgency in Pakistan’s largest and resource-rich Balochistan province is fuelled by Baloch people’s demands for greater political autonomy and control over resources amid political marginalisation, economic exploitation, and repression by the Pakistani authorities, a report detailed on Wednesday.
It added that for decades, the Pakistani agencies in Balochistan have been accused of serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of the Baloch civilians.
“Balochistan has long experienced the trauma of enforced disappearances. Activists say that thousands of ethnic Baloch people were disappeared by Pakistan’s security forces during the last two decades. These individuals were detained without due legal process, or abducted, tortured, and murdered. Although some return after years, they are traumatised and broken. Many never return. Others are found in unmarked graves, their bodies so disfigured that they cannot be identified,” a report in American media outlet PJ Media detailed.
At Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) in Islamabad, students held a protest and a sit-in against the enforced disappearance of a sixth-semester student, Saeedullah Baloch, with a protest camp established by the Baloch Students Council (BSC). Following the demonstrations, the QAU administration suspended all academic activities amid concerns over a larger protest campaign
“Camp speakers highlighted that Saeedullah was forcibly taken away by unknown men in civilian dress on July 8. The incident occurred at the Islamabad Toll Plaza as he and a friend were travelling on a public bus. The protestors added that the abductors were accompanied by law enforcement, who offloaded the two from the bus,” the report noted.
According to the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) 16 years of protests, sit-ins, and rallies have failed to bring an end to enforced disappearances across Balochistan.
Addressing a press conference on November 16, VBMP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch called on the Pakistani authorities and their institutions to realise that the use of force, extrajudicial killings, and disappearances of Baloch citizens would not stabilise the situation in Balochistan.
“Thousands of Baloch have been forcibly disappeared, and thousands have been killed extrajudicially, yet the situation continues to deteriorate. We appeal to the state to refrain from using force in Balochistan. The issue is political and must be resolved through political dialogue,” PJ Media quoted Nasrullah as saying.
The Pakistani government in 2011 established the Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances, mandated to “trace the whereabouts of allegedly enforced disappeared persons” and “fix responsibility on individuals or organisations responsible.”
The Commission has been widely criticised for failures, including its flawed definition of enforced disappearance, narrow scope of inquiry, insufficient safeguards to victims and witnesses, and inability to bring perpetrators to justice
“Not a single person in Pakistan has been held accountable for enforced disappearances. There is no provision in the law that enables families to claim any reparations for their ordeal,” the report noted.
–IANS
scor/as
