ABDUCTED POLITICAL ACTIVIST AT RISK OF DEATH

URGENT ACTION
ABDUCTED POLITICAL ACTIVIST AT RISK OF DEATH
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Political activists from the ethnic Baloch community have been subjected to abductions, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial
executions in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Hundreds have reportedly been subjected to these violations, but the precise
figures are impossible to verify given the secretive nature of the abductions and killings, and the general inaccessibility of
Balochistan province. Lateef Johar, a member of the BSOA has been on hunger strike for the safe recovery of Zahid Baloch since
22 April at a protest camp in Karachi.
Activists, journalists, lawyers, and student leaders as well as members of armed groups are among those who have been targeted
for enforced disappearance, abduction, torture and unlawful killing. The violence takes place in a context of increasing political
unrest and state military operations in Balochistan. Straddling the border with Afghanistan and Iran, Balochistan is Pakistan’s
geographically largest, but most sparsely populated province. It has a history of insurgency, with local groups advocating greater
autonomy and a bigger share of the revenue generated by the province's natural resources, principally natural gas, which they
believe now disproportionately benefit other provinces.
The bullet-riddled bodies of those who have been abducted, many showing signs of torture, are frequently found across
Balochistan and occasionally in the city of Karachi, capital of neighbouring Sindh province. Relatives and Baloch groups accuse
Pakistani security forces, particularly the Frontier Corps and intelligence agencies, of perpetrating these abductions and killings. In
December 2013 Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch acknowledged that state “agencies” were responsible for “illegal
confinement” of Baloch activists. Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the highest judiciary in the country, including former
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, have also accused the Frontier Corps of being responsible for many enforced
disappearances in the province.
The Frontiers Corps is the primary state security force responsible for maintaining law and order in Balochistan province. The
confrontation between Baloch nationalists and the state is characterized by human rights abuses committed by both sides.
Name Zahid Baloch