Balochistan hearing: Baseless allegations hurled at FC, attorney

The force faced both physical, psychological attacks, says SM Zafar.

QUETTA:

Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Thursday criticised the role of the Frontier Corps (FC) in Balochistan by highlighting the unremitting allegations levelled against the law enforcement agency on account of missing persons and human rights abuses.

“We must ask ourselves why every third person in the province is blaming the FC for picking up people without informing the executive,” said the chief justice while hearing a petition on the deteriorating law and order situation in the province.

A three member bench of the country’s apex court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, is conducting proceedings at the Quetta registry on the petition filed by the Balochistan Bar Association.

During the fourth day of the hearing, counsel for the FC Advocate S M Zafar told the court that it was regrettable that a negative perception about the institution has been framed in the minds of the people.

He said that the FC faced physical and psychological attacks simultaneously. Elaborating his argument, the counsel noted that 432 FC personnel had lost their lives in the line of duty while baseless allegations continued to be hurled at the institution by its detractors.

Sympathising with the FC on the loss of its men, the chief justice asked the counsel to keep deliberations limited to missing persons and deteriorating law and order situation in the province.

Zafar argued that the government had failed to provide safety and security to citizens in Balochistan, as a result of which anti-state elements had filled the vacuum. The counsel informed the court that the total strength of the FC was approximately 50,000 personnel.

He informed the court that the FC is primarily tasked with guarding the country’s frontiers. However, he added, the institution had been given the additional responsibility of maintaining order in Balochistan.

Praising the FC for protecting sensitive installations in the province against attacks by militants, Zafar told the court that 24 per cent of FC personnel were deployed in the province to protect important installations.

The court inquired about the ethnic composition of the FC to which Inspector General FC Major General Obaidullah Khan informed the bench that only 12 per cent of FC personnel were natives of Balochistan. The chief justice noted that all employees of the Supreme Court Quetta registry were natives of the province and this dichotomy in composition should be addressed.

Replying to a question, Advocate General Balochistan Amanullah Kanrani said the government had a list of the missing persons and there were 78 names on that list.

However, the chief justice maintained that the common perception amongst most residents of the restive province was that the FC detains people without informing civilian authorities.

Zafar inquired from the bench if the judiciary would be satisfied if the FC extended full cooperation in investigations, the chief justice remarked that “the judiciary will be content when law and order is restored in the province. When the assailants of all those innocent citizens who have been murdered are caught and when all missing persons are accounted for.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2012.