Balochistan: Atrocities of armed forces

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INTERNATIONAL DESK: Balochistan is facing vilest humanitarian crisis since last two decades, there is not a single month where human rights violations are not taking place, and the silence at international level is making Pakistani establishment more confident about not being held accountable for the human rights violations in the province.1

The provincial government of Balochistan has formed a judicial commission to conduct a probe into the operation carried out by security forces in Ziarat held on the night of July 14 and 15. According to a notification issued on July 28, the one-member commission would comprise Justice Muhammad Ejaz Swati of the Balochistan High Court. “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section (3) of the Balochistan Tribunals of Inquiry Ordinance, 1969, the Government of Balochistan is pleased to appoint Justice Muhammad Ejaz Swati, Judge High Court of Balochistan, as Judicial Commission for conducting [an] inquiry into the killing of persons in Ziarat operation,” read a notification issued by the Home Department.2

On July 16, nine suspected terrorists were killed along with a soldier during an operation against the killers of Lt Col Laiq Baig Mirza, an army officer who was kidnapped while travelling to Quetta from Ziarat along with his cousin, Umer Javed. The bodies of Lt Col Mirza and Javed were found along the Harnai-Ziarat border. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), five of the nine terrorists belonged to the proscribed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).3 “On the night of July 14/15, a terrorist hideout was identified and cleared by security forces near Khost in the Khalifat Mountains. Once encircled, the terrorists opened fire on the closing-in troops,” the ISPR statement said.4 However, the bodies of five out of nine suspected militants were later identified by their families, who claimed that they were missing persons allegedly picked up by security forces. They further claimed that the security forces “staged” the killings and brought these people from custody.5

Sadly, families of the Baloch missing persons have been sitting continuously outside the Balochistan’s Chief Minister and Governor’s house in Quetta against the alleged fake encounters of nine, which later increased to 13 missing persons. Families also allege that they were warned to secretly bury the bodies. On the other hand, BLA denied the claims saying that if any single fighter of the organisation was among those killed ones, they would have “proudly endorsed them”. Moreover, against the police brutalities on the protesters and fake encounters in Ziarat, protests were held in other cities of Karachi, Turbat and Islamabad where scores of people joined them. The protestors said that the demands of the families of the Baloch missing persons must be heard and fulfilled.6

This is not the first case of armed forces brutality on Baloch people. On June 12, 2022, approximately 120 to 130 people, including women, took to the streets near the main gate of the Sindh Assembly against the suspected abduction of two Baloch students of the University of Karachi by law enforcement agencies. Several videos making the rounds on social media showed the police manhandling and forcefully dispersing the protestors. Around 28 of them were detained.7 The police used brute force on the protesters, bringing opprobrium. Even, Amnesty International South Asia condemned the use of force against the protesters, many of whom were relatives of missing persons. “The police used vile and filthy language, hurled abuses at us – said things that I do not think any civilized person or organization would say. We were called disgraced and disrespectful women, were accused of protesting for ‘fame’ and to appear on media,” said Sammi Deen Baloch, an activist.8

The NGO Voice for Baloch Missing Persons claimed police killed 27 persons in Balochistan as of August, 2021. There were numerous media reports of police and security forces killing terrorist suspects in “police encounters.” Security forces in Balochistan continued to disappear pretrial terror suspects, along with human rights activists, politicians, and teachers. The Baloch Human Rights Council noted 37 individuals had disappeared and assailants killed 25 persons, including one woman, in the month of June, 2021.9

Also, according to Freedom House Report of Pakistan, 2022, Voice for Baloch Missing Persons accused the state of operating “death squads” to abduct and kill suspected separatist sympathizers in the province. The number of cases of people registered as missing since 2011 by the official Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances rose to 8,279 as of the end of November 2021, of which 6,047 cases had reportedly been resolved. The International Commission of Jurists, an international human rights organization, found the Commission of Inquiry’s approach had enabled impunity by diverting attention away from the judicial process into an ad hoc process vulnerable to political interference.10

Another deadly feature of Armed forces atrocities is the use of landmines, when the government does not shy away from killing its own citizens in the name of ‘insurgency’, in the crudest possible form. Pakistan has one of the highest levels of casualties in the world due to landmines and explosive remnants of war. In 2017, the Sustainable Peace and Development Organization (SPADO) which is an active member of the Global Control Arms Coalition and International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), reported that Balochistan reported 171 casualties due to landmines.11

According to monthly report (June, 2022) of Balochistan National Movement, “Report on human rights violations in Balochistan”:

Day-by-Day human rights violations are increasing, Baloch nation has been systematically affected by the atrocities of Pakistan. Thousands of people have been stumbling for years in search of their loved ones, mothers along with their children are getting old in protest camps, Pakistani establishment is also well aware about their helplessness, judicial rights are taken away from Baloch media personnel and journalists are not allowed to report on the situations. We know very well that Pakistan wants to depoliticize Baloch society with the weapon of collective punishment so that people are unable to raise their voice for their national and political rights.12

Regrettably, armed forces can kill the people of Balochistan but is not in a place to reconcile their continued trauma. With all this, one thing is clear the hurt and sorrow that Baloch people experience are not going to be lessened in Pakistan keeping in mind the sustained design where many innocent Baloch men, women and children are subjected to torment and aggravation. (IFFRAS Commentary)

1 https://www.thebnm.org/single-post/paank-reportjune2022
2 https://www.dawn.com/news/1702112/commission-formed-to-identify-militants-killed-in-ziarat
3 https://www.dawn.com/news/1702112/commission-formed-to-identify-militants-killed-in-ziarat
4 https://www.dawn.com/news/1699746/soldier-martyred-5-terrorists-killed-in-ziarat-recovery-operation-ispr
5 https://www.dawn.com/news/1702112/commission-formed-to-identify-militants-killed-in-ziarat
6 https://minutemirror.com.pk/baloch-families-continue-to-protest-despite-rain-53464/
7 https://www.dawn.com/news/1694760
8 https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/as-baloch-women-raise-their-voices-the-state-cracks-down/
9 https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/313615_PAKISTAN-2021-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf
10 https://freedomhouse.org/country/pakistan/freedom-world/2022
11 https://rsilpak.org/2022/use-of-landmines-in-pakistan/
12 https://www.thebnm.org/single-post/paank-reportjune2022