Balochistan 2017

1 2017 Balochistan 2017 AN OVERVIEW OF HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL OF BALOCHISTAN (HRCB) @HRCBALOCHISTAN WWW.HAKKPAAN.ORG 2 Forward: Pakistan is a signatory to many treaties and conventions that assign the state the responsibility of protecting the citizens of any illegal detention, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment. To name a few most important, Pakistan has signed the Convention Against Torture1 and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights2 on 17 April 2008 and ratified them on 23rd June 2010; signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights3 on 3rd November 2004 and ratified it on 17 April 2008; signed the Convention on the Rights of Child4 on 20 September 1990 and ratified it on 12 November 1990. The government of Pakistan has formed a National Commission for Human Rights5, claiming to independently investigate the cases and enforce the laws state has introduced in its legislation covering and protecting the articles of the above-mentioned conventions and covenants. The cases of enforced disappearances of Baloch activists and their family members have multiplied in number in the recent months. The National Commission of Human Rights seems to have failed to make any difference. It has helped cover up the role of security agencies in the enforced disappearances in the name of national security. Almost all the political activists in Balochistan, who had an opposite view of the government’s projects, have been abducted and forcibly disappeared and/or extra judicially killed by security forces. Most of the cases went unnoticed, as the media and human rights organizations are not given access to Balochistan and most of the reporters in Balochistan are killed and/or abducted and forcibly disappeared. Enforced Disappearances: Baloch Human Rights Organization, a Balochistan based human rights group issued the initial details of 1,225 persons, forcibly disappeared6 from January to end of November 2017, while the group claims that 287 persons have been extra judicially killed7 by security forces in this period of time. 1 http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/cat.pdf 2 http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/ccpr.pdf 3 http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/cescr.pdf 4 http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdf 5 http://nchr.org.pk/# 6 https://balochhumanrights.org/?page_id=1067 7 https://balochhumanrights.org/?page_id=1076 3 Our sources from Balochistan have confirmed the initial reports of 1,091 cases in which security forces victimized the civilians of enforced disappearance. Some of the recent cases are: 1. Nawaz Atta Born in 1995 in the small town of Gichk in district Panjgur of Balochistan, Nawaz Atta had long dreamt of becoming a poet and a fiction writer. Therefore, after completing his primary education from his home village, he moved to the metropolitan Karachi city to live up his dreams. But he was more of a social worker by nature than a poet. He developed this strong urge to help bring his fellow villagers to Karachi for better education opportunities. He kept a list of education institutions and their upcoming admission schedules. He would text this list to any willing youngster from his village. When someone becomes a victim of enforced disappearance in Balochistan, his/her relatives have little options to press personnel of security forces to release their loved ones. What they usually do is to sit outside the Karachi Press Club in protest so that the media people highlight their case. Nawaz took care of many such families. That is how he became the central information secretary of the Baloch Human Rights Organization8. He was abducted by paramilitary Rangers personnel in Karachi on 28th of October 2017. He is still missing along with eight other students from Balochistan, all abducted from Karachi. 8 https://balochhumanrights.org/?page_id=270 4 2. Aftab 9 years old Aftab does not remember his biological mother. He was 40 days old when she, Jamal Khatoon, died of Hepatitis B and C in 2007, the year Aftab was born. He was then adopted by his father’s sister, Sabira Rahim. Aftab now calls her mother. Aftab attended Pak Islamic Public School in Khuzdar till grade three. At the end of 2015, the family shifted to Karachi to escape any possible fallout of the ongoing conflict between Baloch separatists and Pakistan’s military. They were living in the Gulshan-e-Hadid area of Karachi and Aftab was a student of grade 5 at the Rising Star School. His mother, Sabira, a 35 years old schoolteacher, is the wife of Rahim Baloch, a known Baloch nationalist leader. He served as Chairman of the Baloch Students Organization and the founding Secretary General of the Baloch National Movement9. This very fact made Aftab qualified enough to become another Baloch missing person. The Sindh Rangers raided their house in Gulshan-e-Hadid at around 02:30 am on 28th of October 2017. They whisked away Aftab along with his two cousins: 24- year-old Rawat and 25-year-old Arif. 3. Ulfat 11 years old Ulfat Altaf is a resident of Awaran Balochistan and a student of grade five in school. Many of his family members have been abducted by security forces and later killed. His mother, Zubaida thought to shift to Karachi for two purposes, safety and the education of her children. They rented an apartment in Gulshan-e-Hadid colony phase 1, at Double road street Karachi. 9 https://www.thebnm.org/ 5 The Sindh rangers and personnel of intelligence agencies of Pakistan raided their house on 28 October 2017 and took Mr. Ulfat along with three of his cousins, Abid, Sajjad and Farhad. 4. Sanaullah 25 years old Sanaullah Mohammad Ismail, alias Ezzat Baloch is a student and Secretary General of Baloch Student Organization-Azad (BSO-Azad)10. He is a native of Mashkay, Awaran Balochistan. Like thousands of other Baloch students, he was also compelled to leave his studies and home and stay anonymous under a pseudonym, Ezzat Baloch, since the “Kill and Dump” policy of Pakistani security forces against Baloch activists was accelerated in 2009. He was in Karachi and visiting his colleague, Naseer Ahmed, at Naseer Ahmed’s house near Rufi Mall in Mosmiat area of Karachi, along with Hassam and Rafeeq Baloch, two close friends and colleagues. Sindh Rangers and personnel of intelligence agencies raided the house on 15 November 2017 at around 21:00 and abducted Sanaullah, Naseer, Hassam and Rafeeq Baloch. They are forcibly disappeared since then. 5. Hassam Hassam Baloch is a poet, born in 1995 in Mand, a town in Balochistan bordering Iran. He completed his basic education from his village, intermediate from Atta Shad degree college Turbat and then shifted to Karachi for higher education. He used to write poems in Balochi as well as Urdu. Sometimes, he wrote prose, but his poetic writings have been more appreciated than the prose. 10 https://sagaar.net/ 6 In Turbat and Karachi, he mostly wanted to live alone. With the books and pen only. He studies literature, art, philosophy and history. But he was possessed by literature too much. He is a member of central committee of Baloch Students Organization-Azad. Hassam Ghulam Mohammad was abducted along with Sanaullah, Naseer and Rafeeq Baloch on 15 November 2017, from a house in Karachi by Sindh Rangers and personnel of intelligence agencies. 6. Rafeeq Ahmed: 25 years old Rafeeq Ahmed Rahim Bakhsh is a resident of kanari village of Mashkay district Awaran Balochistan. He was once wounded in indiscriminate shelling of military’s helicopters on his village during a military operation in 2010. He could not see properly, could not walk properly and needed constant medical assistance. Mr. Rafeeq and his family had left their village and lived in Karachi. Sindh Rangers and personnel of intelligence agencies raided their house on 15 November 2017 and abducted Rafeeq Ahmed, Sanaullah, Naseer and Hassam. They were all forcibly disappeared after abduction. His wife and children recorded their testimony as eyewitness of the incident. The families started a sit-in protest camp in front of Karachi press club to raise their voice. Human rights groups, political parties condemned the incident and held many protests around the world for safe recovery of the abductees. But, the government of Pakistan did not reply to all the appeals and kept quiet. 7 7. Naseer Ahmed: Naseer Ahmed Swali is a 26 years old student and a resident of Lal bazar kohárhó village of Jahl Jhao, Awaran Balochistan. They had migrated to Karachi due to constant military operations. His village in Jahl Jhao, Awaran Balochistan was forcefully evacuated by the forces and the villagers were left, without any help whatsoever, scattered across different parts of Balochistan and Sindh. Naseer Ahmed was living a life of IDP, but he continued his studies. On 15 November 2017, Sindh Rangers and personnel of intelligence agencies raided their house and abducted Naseer Ahmed along with Sanaullah, Hassam and Rafeeeq. The families launched a campaign of protests, started a sit-in camp in front of Karachi press club to highlight the case. Human rights organizations and political parties held protests in Karachi, Quetta and different cities of western countries. UN working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances sent communications to the government of Pakistan. But, the government has not replied to any appeals and did not produce him in any court of law. 8. Sagheer Ahmed: Sagheer Ahmed Ghulam Qadir is 22 years old, student of Political Science in Karachi University and a resident of Tirtéj village Mashkay, district Awaran Balochistan. He did his basic schooling in Tirtéj, Awaran and did his inter from Inter College Mashkay in 2015.

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