Balochistan kidnappings: Two bodies found near Makran Coastal Highway
The victims were listed as ‘missing persons’ a few months ago.
QUETTA:
The bodies of two people previously considered to be missing were found dumped near the Makran Coastal highway in Lasbela district.
According to officials, passers-by spotted the bodies in Lyari Tehsil and informed a Balochistan Levies police station.
The bodies were shifted to a nearby government hospital for autopsy where they were identified as Sharbat Khan Marri and Zaman Khan Marri. Both victims were listed as missing a few months ago, officials said. Their identities were confirmed through slips found from each body. The body of Sharbat Khan’s father, Ahmed Khan Marri, was found dumped in the area a few weeks earlier.
Officials were unaware of the motive behind the killings. “The bodies bore bullet wounds and multiple marks of torture,” sources said, adding that no one has come forward to claim the bodies for burial so far.
According to sources, Sharbat Khan was whisked away along with family members including his father several weeks back.
Human rights groups and Baloch political parties claimed as early as March that 13,000 people are missing in the province, while the provincial government acknowledged fewer than 1,000 people have been picked up. Intelligence and security agencies are alleged to be behind the growing disappearances in the region, where a number of strikes have taken place in recent months to protest the kidnappings.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31th, 2011.
The bodies of two people previously considered to be missing were found dumped near the Makran Coastal highway in Lasbela district.
According to officials, passers-by spotted the bodies in Lyari Tehsil and informed a Balochistan Levies police station.
The bodies were shifted to a nearby government hospital for autopsy where they were identified as Sharbat Khan Marri and Zaman Khan Marri. Both victims were listed as missing a few months ago, officials said. Their identities were confirmed through slips found from each body. The body of Sharbat Khan’s father, Ahmed Khan Marri, was found dumped in the area a few weeks earlier.
Officials were unaware of the motive behind the killings. “The bodies bore bullet wounds and multiple marks of torture,” sources said, adding that no one has come forward to claim the bodies for burial so far.
According to sources, Sharbat Khan was whisked away along with family members including his father several weeks back.
Human rights groups and Baloch political parties claimed as early as March that 13,000 people are missing in the province, while the provincial government acknowledged fewer than 1,000 people have been picked up. Intelligence and security agencies are alleged to be behind the growing disappearances in the region, where a number of strikes have taken place in recent months to protest the kidnappings.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 31th, 2011.