Two missing persons found dead

The bullet-r­iddled bodies of two men who had been missing since May 2009 were found on Qambrani Road on Monday.

The bullet-riddled bodies of two men who had been missing since May 2009 were found on Qambrani Road here on Monday morning.

According to officials, residents of Qambrani Road spotted the two bodies lying in a field and informed local police. Police said the victims’ hands and feet were bound.

The bodies were taken to Bolan Medical College for an autopsy and were later shifted to Provincial Sandeman Hospital, where they were identified as 25-year-old Ashfaq Mullahzai and 30-year-old Farooq Mengal.

The victims received multiple bullet wounds on their heads and died on the spot, Dr Noor Baloch of Sandeman Hospital told The Express Tribune.

According to families of the victims, both men had been missing for more than two months. “Farooq Mengal was picked up by secret agencies from Lakh pass area, at the exit point of Quetta city, on May 10, this year,” claimed one of his relatives. The relative added that Ashfaq had been whisked away from Saryab area of Quetta on May 21. The victims were residents of Jail Road Hudda.

A case has been registered against unknown persons at New Saryab police station and officials say they are investigating the murders.

Meanwhile, the advocacy group Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) held a demonstration before the Quetta Press Club on Monday, demanding that authorities trace the whereabouts of missing persons immediately.

Protestors carried placards and photographs of missing persons and chanted slogans against the government and judiciary, condemning them for their failure to locate missing people.

Addressing the protestors, VBMP Chairman Nasurrallah Baloch said the ‘democratic’ government and the ‘independent judiciary’ did not seem to be sincerely invested in the plight of missing persons and their relatives.

“Missing persons are being killed and the list of deaths has been increasing every day,” Baloch claimed, adding that “after the killing of Najeebullah Lango, Faiz Baloch and Farooq Mengal there is threat to the lives of other missing people.”

Other relatives at the protest also criticised the United Nations and international humanitarian organisation for their silennce regarding issue of missing persons.

They warned that if the missing persons issue was not taken up by the UN soon, they would organise a long march in protest and attempt to disrupt Nato supply lines from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2010.