A student leader abducted and four bodies of disappeared persons are found

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a student leader from Balochistan was abducted from the check post of the Frontier Corps in Quetta while he was returning from an interview for internship at Pakistan Telecommunications, a public sector company. In the campaign of killings of disappeared persons four more bodies of disappeared were found with bullet and torture marks. No a day goes by in Balochistan province without agitation and 'shutter-down' strikes in protest of killings and abductions allegedly by the law enforcement agencies.


CASE NARRATIVE:

Mr. Fareed Ahmed Baloch, the son of Haleem Ahmed Balcoh, a final year student of the Balochistan Engineering and Technology University, 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. Fareed Baloch was the president of Baloch Students Organisation (BSO-Azad) of district Khuzdar, Balochistan. Since then his whereabouts are unknown.

The family members of the Baloch are concerned about his security, especially in view of the large numbers of extrajudicial killings of disappearances in the province.

The extra judicial killings of the missing persons continue despite the strong public agitation throughout the province. A young missing person's bullet riddle body was found on February 10 from Uthal district's far flung area of kehnwari on the main national high way. Mr. Arzi Khan Marri 30 son of Mehar Khan Marri was abducted and was missing for three months. 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.

Two more missing persons were allegedly extrajudicially killed and their bullet riddled bodies were found Turbat district on February 11. Mr. Jameel Yaqoob 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).The other missing person, Comrade Qayyume 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. Both persons had bullet wounds on their chests, abdomens and heads and their bodies showed signs of torture. Comrade was member of the organising committee of BSO-Azad.

Another body, that of a political activist, Saeed Ahmed Mengal of the BNP, was found in Koshak, district Khuzdar, on February 14 in the bed of a dried river. He had been missing since September after his arrest from his house at Hub district.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Disappearances in Pakistan have become a routine matter and it has been accepted by the authorities as a normal practice of the law enforcement agencies, including the army and its intelligence agencies. The major political parties, who are in sizeable numbers in the parliament, are also silent on the issue of enforced disappearances and torture in military detention cells. The distress caused by the disappearances is that, despite the departure of the government of President Musharraf, the menace continues under the present civilian government. On average, every month at least five or six persons are abducted and disappeared by plain clothed persons in Balochistan alone. This is frequently done in the presence of police officers who then refuse to lodge FIRs saying that the intelligence agencies are involved.

A new trend has been reported in forced disappearances and that is the extrajudicial killings of the victims. Through this method it is easy for the abductors to wash away all evidence of the disappearance--no question of FIRs, legal process or placing blame. During the period of former President Musharraf, the phenomenon of disappearances started through the state agents, though this process has continued in the civilian government at federal and provincial levels killings through extrajudicial methods is new phase in the disappearances particularly, in the province of Balochistan.


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