As mutilated bodies of two political workers surfaced on Wednesday, the restive province of Balochistan was one again agitated over continuing efforts by authorities to muffle the Baloch voice that is divided over complete independence from Pakistan and more political autonomy-cum-control over its resources within the existing structure.
The bodies of Mehboob Wadela of the Baloch National Movement and Rehman Arif of the Baloch Republican Party were found in the coastal town of Ormara. Local media reported that their bodies bore bullet wounds and torture marks. While Mr. Wadela had been missing from Karachi since April last year, Mr. Arif was abducted from the port city of Gwadar four months ago.
The news of the murder of these two activists — whose relatives had time and again drawn attention to their disappearances — sparked protests in different parts of the province. According to the NGO, Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, as many as 101 bullet-riddled bodies of missing persons have surfaced over the past seven months.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Amnesty International urged the Pakistan government to immediately account for the “alarming number of killings and abductions in Balochistan attributed to government forces in recent months”. Simultaneously, it urged Baloch armed groups to avoid attacks that target or endanger civilians.
According to Amnesty International, “at least 90 Baloch activists, teachers, journalists and lawyers have disappeared or been murdered, many in ‘kill and dump' operations” in the last four months. “These atrocities are carried out with flagrant impunity. Credible investigations into these incidents — resulting in prosecutions — are absolutely necessary to establish some trust between the Baloch people and the Pakistan government,” observed Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1487074.ece
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