BHC orders suspension of 4 CTD officials

Personnel are allegedly involved in extra-judicial killing of Balach Baloch

QUETTA:

A division bench of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) has ordered immediate suspension of four Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel in connection with the alleged extra-judicial killing of Balach Baloch –  a 24-year-old Baloch man – in Makran belt.

The division bench comprising BHC Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Nazeer Ahmed Langove passed the order on a constitutional petition filed by the family members of Balach Baloch.
The family members held the CTD personnel responsible for the killing of the young man. However, CTD rejected the charge and termed the killing an armed clash between security forces and miscreants on Pasni Road, Turbat.

The court also ordered the government to transfer the investigation against the CTD personnel to Crimes Branch Quetta.

The police had registered an FIR against the four CTD personnel on the directives of Turbat sessions judge as his family members sought justice for the deceased.

Meanwhile, a long march organized against the killing of Balach Baloch and others, and enforced disappearances reached Quetta from Turbat.

While removing obstacles in Surab, Mastung, and later on in Lak-Pass, the participants of the march entered the provincial capital.The district administration had blocked the roads in Quetta while sealing the Red Zone which disrupted the traffic system, causing massive delays for the commuters.

Balach Baloch and three others were allegedly killed in an operation by the CTD on November 23 in Turbat.

The family members of the deceased and people of the area staged a sit-in against the killings, demanding an FIR against the CTD officials. The families of other missing persons also joined the protest, which later turned into a collective movement.