Balochistan

Baloch Missing persons: 121 bodies recovered in eight months

Missing persons’ relatives to launch a ‘train march’ to Islamabad.

Express April 01, 2011

QUETTA:

As many as 121 bullet-riddled bodies have been recovered from different parts of Balochistan in the past eight months, chairman Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VFBMP) said on Thursday.

Addressing a news conference at a hunger strike camp set up by relatives of Baloch missing persons, Nasurallah Baloch, calling off the strike said that the protesters will launch a ‘train march’ from Quetta to Islamabad on April 2.

“We set up hunger strike camps in Karachi, Islamabad and Quetta in order to highlight the deteriorating human rights conditions in Balochistan where people are being picked up by security forces and kept in safe houses illegally,” he told reporters. He said that now the demonstrators will head towards Islamabad and stage a sit-in in front of the Supreme Court to force Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary to take suo motu notice of the issue.

The VFBMP chairman rejected the report of the judicial commission on missing persons and said it was an attempt to suppress the issue. “We have rejected the report, but now the Supreme Court has constituted another commission. Relatives of Baloch missing persons will reject it too,” he added. “The officials of secret agencies ask ridiculous questions to complicate the issue,” he alleged.

He said that the relatives have eyewitnesses and concrete evidence of the involvement of security forces in whisking away their loved ones from public places and residences.

“My brother, Sameer Rind, was kidnapped by security forces. They were in uniform and carried out a raid and took him away,” the sister of a missing person said.

Baloch said his organisation has complete data of 1,300 Baloch missing persons but no measure has been taken to release a single person.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2011.

COMMENTS (23)

Lal Shahbaz | 13 years ago | Reply Firing and celebration all over Balochistan.... Over India winning the semi-final. Firing, Dancing and celebrating till the wee hours of the morning. All the police and FC deployed in Balochistan could not stop the people of Balochistan in expressing their true feelings.

adeela jabeen | 13 years ago | Reply its true that pakistan will lose balochistan because of ethnically target killings and with thousand of people gone missing

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Afridi | 13 years ago | Reply The independence struggle should be ramped up 10-fold. The punjabis will be made to compensate for every Baloch life that they have claimed only 10-Fold. Balochistan Insallah will be an Independent nation just like our KP and no Punjabistani will be allowed to carry on with this genocide.

Zahid Malik | 13 years ago | Reply Does it ever occur to you people, two wrong's do not make a right, if you people in Baluchistan thing, the establishment is targeting your people, is it really fair to target innocent civilians in retaliation, as opposed to taking the issue directly up with authorities. It disgusts me when I hear off the ethnic cleansing of Punjabi's in that province, people of Pakistan have a right to live in any city or any province of the country.

Shahid | 13 years ago | Reply @Arsalan: Arsalan sahib we need to correct ourselves and clean our house and stop blaming others...every hindu, russian, american and other enemy will take advantage of the situation if our own house is not in order...

Shahid | 13 years ago | Reply @Altaf Khan: Yes my asleep brother...armed forces are protecting the pakistani people... you are right...look how they are protecting the people of FATA, Khayber and KPK by their bombs, gunship helicopters and ohhhhhh I forgot...how the isi protected the three pakistani citizens killed in lahore by a cia agent raymond davis...how the isi chief gave him to the usa just to get a one year extension for himself... you are right!!!!!

Shahid | 13 years ago | Reply @Arsalan: This is why we (People of Balochistan) have problem with punjabis...they have a stereo type mentality for all other ethnic groups of Pakistan...I am a Pashtoon from Balochistan but I have the same feelings as of a common Baloch of Balochistan... I think the punjabi people forgot what our army did in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)...when we close our eyes from the truth then these incidents become the part of history and Bangladesh is a REALITY of history... Please change your mentality before it gets late!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fortune Cookie | 13 years ago | Reply 109 DEAD. Killed. Tortured. By whom??? Does the QURAN allow these acts? Muslim killing Muslim!!! For every one such death everybody in Pakistan, we should come out onto the street to protest against the death. Also create a WIKI leak whereby the perpetrators of such acts are revealed. This is our onlt salvation.

Khamaj Baloch | 13 years ago | Reply Shame Shame Punjabistan. The situation in Balochistan is no different from Libya. The state on its part is involved in extra-judicial killings, aka state sponsered terrorism. The punjabis just want to hold on to balochistan, just for 3 reasons. Exploit the mineral and carbon wealth of our great country. Use our Gwadar port to charge their American and Chinese masters for freight traffic and in return stack up their treasury. Get pipelines coming in from Iran without having to pay the charge for getting their gas supplies from over our lands. The punjabistanis on their part use the garb of islam and something called pakistan to keep suppressing our quam which throughout history has been fiercely independent. There are just 2 replies to this. The so called Pakistan does not have a monopoly on islam. Pakistan was a concept which has no history. Something that was coined just about half a century ago. Balochistan on the other hand has a history that goes back 1000's of years. We urge the world powers to view the situation in balochistan for what it is. If they can justify action against qaddafi they certainly should take the lead and start a full blown military campaign against punjabistan. India and China which keep claiming that they are world powers need to demonstrate resolve and stick up for the human rights of the Baloch people. If they really are such powers as they claim to be, then they should exert their influence over the punjabistani leadership and make them vacate our country.

Arsalan | 13 years ago | Reply I am surprised that so many Indians or Hindus are interested in this issue and why ? I think the RAW wants to send a message to our misguided brothers and sisters of Baloch Origin. Have not RAW observed that how much support Pakistani Cricket Team got from Balochistan during semi final with Indian Team ? Brothers and sisters remain brothers and sisters - even if they are not happy with each others. And outsiders (Indian RAW) remain outsiders despite the fact that how much money, arms and ammunitions and political support they pump in the troubled region.

Balwinder Singh | 13 years ago | Reply @Hamir: " These people are RAW agent " Islamic history is replete will events where close relations have conspired to kill each other in quest for power and favours. This propensity to indulge in conspiratorial endeavors or to believe in conspiratorial forces has gotten into the genes of Muslims.

Anoop | 13 years ago | Reply Here is a detailed piece in the Guardian. I challenge any leading newspaper in Pakistan to pick up this story and investigate it and write about it. As they mention in the Article below ISI will cut you down to size. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/29/balochistan-pakistans-secret-dirty-war

billo | 13 years ago | Reply Excellent and much needed coverage of the issues. Most Pakistanis are completely unaware of the situation in Baluchistan. Everyone needs to wake up and realize the crisis that is brewing. How can we expect others to care about killing our citizens with drones and by other means when we arbitrarily kill so many of them ourselves? The Supreme Court needs to take ongoing notice of these abuses and take the responsible intelligence agencies to task.

Cautious | 13 years ago | Reply Can anyone in Pakistan explain why so much of your country is apparently not under the control of your govt - no wonder the World views you as a failed state.

Altaf Khan | 13 years ago | Reply "The officials of secret agencies ask ridiculous questions to complicate the issue" this one line sums it all,, i know what ridiculous question would they ask,,, why are you in touch with RAW operatives? :) Pakistan's Armed Forces and its intelligence agencies are there to protect its people and national interest and they will continue to do so!!! Pakistan Zindabad Pakistan Hamesha Paindabad

jahan ara | 13 years ago | Reply Let Balochistan got the Bangladesh way.

Chilli | 13 years ago | Reply The killing game played by secret agencies and militants are very dangerous. Both claiming lives of innocent civilians to blame each other. Baluchistan is our beloved province, we need to take them seriously otherwise Pakistan will be in great trouble. The government we have is just isolated in PM and President House and only Rehman Malik move around to look busy. They are doing nothing for the good of the country.

Rashid Rafiq | 13 years ago | Reply People are every day get whisked away by the pakistani intelligence agencies, with help of local security forces, those intelligence agencies can not be pressurized by any one, they are powerfull even then the GOD.

Arsalan | 13 years ago | Reply I on behalf of people of Punjab support such move for genuine missing people of Balochistan. Sometime back I have spent a couple of years in interior Balochistan in number of districts in official capacity and I am much aware of the real situation. There are some genuinely missing people who were picked up to Intelligence agencies, FC and Police due to their links, presumably, with foreign and anti-state elements including RAW. Most of them are BLA and this type of people. Out of these people some were totally innocent but they were victimized by their local Bloch enemies by reporting against them about their so called anti-state activities. Presumably, they were picked up for questioning and so on. Fate unknown........................ However, Some Balochs have been killed and buried by their local Baloch enemies and their families are not aware of the fate of their loved one. The names of such missing people have also been included in this long list of missing people. Such killings were done because of ZAN, ZAR and ZAMIN issues. Some Balochs have left Pakistan for going to Europe through Iran and Turkey and lost their lives on their extremely hard journey by the hands of border guards or others natural factors. Their names have also been included in missing person list. It is done with the hope that families may get some compensation money from the Government. Name of some Balochs are in the missing person list who are happily working in Far East, Gulf, Europe or even in Karachi. It is just to increase then numbers of missing person and the length of the list to attract more sympathy. Int Agencies and Police must produce all those they picked up in the past. They may prosecute them as per law or leave them. Bloch people and leaders are requested to please be realistic in your thoughts, actions and demands.

K Baloch | 13 years ago | Reply I am grateful to Express Tribune for its coverage of fellow countrymen being killed and dumped where all other electronics and prints media just neglecting the issur.

Hamir | 13 years ago | Reply These people are RAW agent

Abdulla | 13 years ago | Reply Is this the way to treat your own (Muslim) brothers! shame on you pakis, atleast India is not doing the same in Kashmir, and our fellow brothers in kashmir cry for nothing

Ramesh Kaul | 13 years ago | Reply You could not get Kashmir, now you will lose Baluchistan. Without Baluchistan, your precious geo-strategic location means squat.

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