Detained and missing: Amnesty urges action to save 10 missing Baloch
An international human rights organisation appealed for urgent action to save the life of 10 detained and missing Baloch persons who, the organisation believes, face death risk.
According to Amnesty International (AI), the 10 men were taken into custody on February 18, along with 19 others, during a Frontier Corps (FC) search operation in the town of Tutak, in Balochistan’s Khuzdar district.
Of them, 18 have since been released while the body of Maqsood Qalandarani, an activist of the Baloch Student Organisation-Azad, was found in a sack in the Jabal-e-Noor area near Quetta on July 16.
Qalandarani appeared to have been tortured and Amnesty said it fears that the 10 remaining men face the same fate.
According to local news reports, the police discovered a note in Qalandarani’s pockets, saying he was an ‘agent of the Baloch Liberation Army’.
The remaining 10, most of whom belong to the Qalandarani tribe, have not been seen since February 18 and are at risk of torture … as well as extrajudicial execution, the rights groups says.
“Bullet-riddled bodies of abducted men, many showing signs of torture, are being found in increasing numbers across Balochistan and illustrate a growing trend of ‘kill and dump’ operations in the province,” it adds.
Between October 24, 2010 and May 31, 2011, Amnesty recorded 73 enforced disappearances and 108 possible extrajudicial executions of Baloch activists, teachers, journalists and lawyers.
According to AI, at least 93 people out of the total 108 killed had been subjected to enforced disappearance.
The 10 detainees include Atiq Mohammad Qalandrani, Khalilur Rehman Qalandrani, Wasim Rehman, Nisar Ahmed, Aftab Qalandrani, Naseb Rehman Qalandrani, Mohammad Raheem Khan Qalandrani, Dr Mohammad Tahir Qalandrani, Fidah Ahmed Qalandrani and Nadeem Qalandrani.
The FC spokesperson, when contacted, categorically rejected the allegations.
“It is a baseless report and the FC did not carry out any operation in Khuzdar nor is there any person in FC custody,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 7th, 2011.
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@Mysterious:
That’s what they did when we wanted Pakistan. Do you think allowing creation of Pakistan was wrong? It’s OK to ask for Pakistan but not rights for Baluchistan? On same strength we should not be asking for freedom for Kashmiris.
excellent and informative website,great work express team,bravo
First check the foreign footprints in Balochistan. How many Indian terrorists and their handlers are trolling the grounds of Balochistan doing the killing and kidnappings to create a false atmosphere against Pakistan. Pakistan Army should seal their borders with strong check points and sweep the area clean with any infiltrators trying to destabalise the area. The Indians have been playing their destabalising games in Balochistan for much too long without any tough monitoring from Pakistan.
@Mysterious , yes you should do so .That is the only option to strengthen Pakistan . What the LEAs is doing in Balochistan is so crystal clear and you are trying to defend this high handedness . Real Shame .
Why forget genocide of Hazara Nation which is living since two hundred years in Quetta and different parts of pakistan. For the sack of humanity we must all be united to fight against those who are responsible for carrying out such attacks and helping and accomodating the attackers. My Messages for All People in Quetta is that be United and live like Brothers, don't try to hurt other people by your words or deeds so that you all could prosper, be united against the Foreign hands trying to disintegrate Pakistan and steal Balochistan's Natural Resources.
Sarim - so if you decide you don't want to live in karachi ? should we separate your area too and make a new province within karachi? :)
these human rights organisations and our ngo's should for once also condemn the ethnic cleansing of punjabis in balochistan,why no one from our media ever cover the genocide of punjabis in balochistan? no mention of this from our bloggers or tweeps at all. doesn't the murder of punjabis count as a crime or have our media ppl decided that punjabis are a subhuman species?