Half-truths: ‘Hina Khar downplayed human rights abuses in Balochistan’
Civil society reps demand stopping military operation in Balochistan.
LAHORE:
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and her delegation tried to downplay the grave human rights situation in Balochistan during her presentation on October 30 to the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Pakistan, civil society representatives told a press conference on Tuesday.
Sharing their critique of Pakistan’s submissions to UN in Geneva before the Working Group of Human Rights Council, they said people continue to protest against the many people missing in Balochistan while arrests and human rights abuses continue.
“The Supreme Court has held military and the Frontier Corps answerable for extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances,” they added.
“Since July 2010, more than 400 bodies of missing persons have been found in Balochistan.
Nationalist groups claim that more than 100 children are being illegally detained by the military. Cabinet members from the province all live in Islamabad and visit the province only on rare occasions.
The government has constituted two commissions to investigate the causes behind the extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances in Balochistan. One of the commissions asked to complete its report within three months has still not been presented it.
The other commission has also taken well over a year but failed to present its conclusions,” they said.
“The report presented by Pakistan was disappointing. Member states have recommended that military operations should be halted in Balochistan and government should ensure that those responsible for torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances are prosecuted.
The impunity offered to the offenders should be withdrawn immediately. Amongst other recommendations was that adequate resources must be provided to the National Commission on Human Rights to enable it to perform its duties,” they added.
The civil society representatives also shared 4,000 words paper with the media on the subject.
The press conference was attended by IA Rehman from Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Mohammad Zubair from South Asia Partnership (SAP-PK). Fauzia Viqar from Shirkat Gah, Nasreen Zehra from Aurat Foundation, Sajjad Cheema from SPARC and Peter Jacob from National Commission for Justice and Peace.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2012.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and her delegation tried to downplay the grave human rights situation in Balochistan during her presentation on October 30 to the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Pakistan, civil society representatives told a press conference on Tuesday.
Sharing their critique of Pakistan’s submissions to UN in Geneva before the Working Group of Human Rights Council, they said people continue to protest against the many people missing in Balochistan while arrests and human rights abuses continue.
“The Supreme Court has held military and the Frontier Corps answerable for extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances,” they added.
“Since July 2010, more than 400 bodies of missing persons have been found in Balochistan.
Nationalist groups claim that more than 100 children are being illegally detained by the military. Cabinet members from the province all live in Islamabad and visit the province only on rare occasions.
The government has constituted two commissions to investigate the causes behind the extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances in Balochistan. One of the commissions asked to complete its report within three months has still not been presented it.
The other commission has also taken well over a year but failed to present its conclusions,” they said.
“The report presented by Pakistan was disappointing. Member states have recommended that military operations should be halted in Balochistan and government should ensure that those responsible for torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances are prosecuted.
The impunity offered to the offenders should be withdrawn immediately. Amongst other recommendations was that adequate resources must be provided to the National Commission on Human Rights to enable it to perform its duties,” they added.
The civil society representatives also shared 4,000 words paper with the media on the subject.
The press conference was attended by IA Rehman from Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Mohammad Zubair from South Asia Partnership (SAP-PK). Fauzia Viqar from Shirkat Gah, Nasreen Zehra from Aurat Foundation, Sajjad Cheema from SPARC and Peter Jacob from National Commission for Justice and Peace.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2012.