Missing persons: Another body exhumed from mass graves

It was the fourth corpse to be discovered during 24 hours.

QUETTA: Another decomposed body was exhumed from the mass grave in Tutak area, 55 kilometres north of Khuzdar district in Balochistan on Monday. It was the fourth dead body to be discovered during 24 hours bringing the total number of exhumed bodies to 17.

“The officials exhumed the remains of another man near the mass grave. It was the fourth body to be discovered during 24 hours,” Home Secretary Asad Gillani told The Express Tribune.

The officials exhumed the corpses following the directives of Judicial Tribunal headed by Justice Noor Mohammed Meskanzai. The bodies were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital. “We received three dead bodies on Sunday and one on Monday,” doctors at District Headquarters Hospital Khuzdar said.

The sample of these four bodies would be sent to Lahore for DNA test to determine their identities as all the bodies were decomposed beyond recognition.

Next to the graves was an abandoned mud compound the roof of which caved in while some walls had also collapsed. The Judicial Commission, tasked to investigate the discovery of unmarked graves, found hundreds of bullet casings from the crime scene.

An official in Khuzdar said two bodies were found near the mass graves discovered on January 25, while two were discovered from another unmarked grave. “There might be more unmarked graves in the area,” he added.

According to a letter provided to Judicial Tribunal, the results of DNA tests may take three to five months. The mass graves first discovered on January 25 after a shepherd spotted human remains in Tutak area and informed the local administration.

Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VFBMP chairman Nasurlllah Baloch claimed that there are around 170 bullet-riddled bodies of Baloch political activists buried in Tutak area. “This is a big question that why bodies are being discovered after month or two. There should have been massive search of more bodies once this discovered first mass grave,” Nasurllah told The Express Tribune.

One of the 17 bodies has so far been identified as Naseer Ahmed, resident of Awaran. The body was handed over to local administration a month ago. “His identity was determined through slips found on the body,” an official in Home Department said.