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2 Balochistan abuses forced
into spotlight By Amir Mir
ISLAMABAD - An unprecedented
open hearing by the United States House of
Representatives on human-rights violations in
Pakistan's trouble-ridden Balochistan province,
coupled with bitter criticism of the Pakistani
state by two well-reputed international
human-rights organizations for its failure to
protect civilians from the security agencies, has
raised many eyebrows in the Pakistani military
establishment that alleges suspicious motives on
the part of the Americans.
Amid
heightening civil-military conflict in Pakistan's
largest province, Amnesty International (AI) and
Human Rights Watch (HRW) have said that Pakistani
security forces and the intelligence agencies are
resorting to grave human-rights abuses in
Balochistan.
While the AI has called on
the US to ensure that assistance for the Pakistani
military stationed in Balochistan is not
channeled
into
abuse, HRW has asked the US to take action against
glaring human-rights violations in Balochistan,
where enforced disappearances are causing misery.
The two groups have
criticized the Pakistani security forces for their
alleged involvement in forced disappearances and
extra-judicial killings of Baloch nationalists.
That criticism and the February 8 debate in the US
Congress brought a strong reaction from the
country's all-powerful security establishment,
with army chief General Ashfaq Kiani saying no
military operations were being carried out in
Balochistan and that no security forces had been
involved in human-rights violations.
Chief Justice of Pakistan
Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, clearly agitated over
the poor situation, had said during a hearing in
March 2011 that the government should take
practical steps instead of issuing policy
statements regarding abduction and targeted
killings in Balochistan.
Significantly, during the
course of the same court proceedings,
Balochistan's Advocate General Salahuddin Mengal
observed that the people of Balochistan recovered
bodies day in and day out because the Frontier
Constabulary and police were lifting people in
broad daylight at will. "We are helpless. Who can
check the Frontier Constabulary? End the burning
issue of missing persons first and then blame the
Balochistan government for not controlling law and
order," he added.
Balochistan is the most
meticulously controlled garrison province of
Pakistan and has always had a tense relationship
with the central government, mainly due to the
touchy issues of provincial autonomy and control
of mineral resources.
The intensity of human-rights
abuses in the province can be gauged from the
statistics provided by the non-governmental Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). The bodies
of at least 241 "missing persons" were recovered
from various parts of the province between July
2010 and December 2011, while in the same period
at least 188 cases of enforced disappearance were
reported - many of whom turn up dead after being
dumped in desolate places, according to the
commission's data. For the HRCP, the fact that not
even a single individual has been held accountable
is a matter of regret.
International criticism of
the situation in Balochistan is in line with the
HRCP's contention that the affairs of the province
cannot be set right so long as its fate is decided
exclusively by the security establishment. A
fact-finding HRCP mission to Balochistan between
May 4 and 7, 2011 reported:
Enforced
disappearances continue to be a matter of great
concern. It has been noted that bodies recovered
have had signs of extreme torture. All authority
seems to vest with the security forces. The
civil administration, elected by the people and
meant to represent them, appears to have ceded
its powers.
The notoriety of the
province for extra-judicial killings and forced
disappearances was behind the US House of
Representatives' Committee on Foreign Affairs'
decision to hold its open hearing on Balochistan
on February 8.
Amnesty International, in its
submission to the committee, called on the
Pakistan government to end enforced disappearances
that target Baloch nationalists, an increasing
number of whom are being found dead days or months
after disappearing. It called on Pakistan to bring
all perpetrators of abuses to justice, provide
fair trials to those brought to justice and ensure
any military operations comply with international
humanitarian laws.
The group also called on all
non-state armed groups in Balochistan to refrain
from committing human-rights abuses, respect the
laws of Pakistan and also ensure that the
civilians were not exposed to violence.
"Balochistan is one of the
most militarized regions of Pakistan, with the
military, paramilitary Frontier Corp and the
Levies [another paramilitary force], and police
stationed across this vast province," AI said in
the briefing paper. "Despite this presence, or
perhaps because of it, Balochistan is one of the
most dangerous parts of Pakistan, with armed
groups affiliated with the state, sectarian armed
groups, armed groups hostile to the state, and
criminal gangs operating with near complete
impunity," the paper noted.
Amnesty warned that the
province is gradually heading to a state of
perpetual conflict that threatens stability not
only in Pakistan but also in the neighboring
countries of Afghanistan and Iran, and throughout
the region. "The fighting between Pakistan forces
and armed Baloch groups may reach a level of
intensity that would make the laws of war
applicable," it warned, quoting an investigation
of its own which showed that at least 249 Baloch
activists, teachers, journalists and lawyers
disappeared or were killed between October 24,
2010 and September 10, 2011, many in so-called
"kill and dump" operations.
Amnesty then called on the US
administration to apply the Leahy Amendment to all
the Pakistani military units stationed in
Balochistan. Application of the amendment would
mean the US would have to ensure that American
military assistance to the Pakistan military and
security forces in Balochistan is not linked to
human-rights abuses.
According to Mustafa Qadri,
AI's Pakistan researcher: "There should be no
surprises here, the fundamental problem is the
total impunity enjoyed by human rights abusers and
the failure of the state [of Pakistan] to address
the horrendous poverty and disenfranchisement
being felt by the Baloch people and other
communities."
A comprehensive report
compiled by the Pakistan director of the HRW, Ali
Dayan Hasan, has recommended the US government
press Pakistan to take all necessary measures to
end human-rights violations in Balochistan and to
prosecute those responsible for crimes including
extra-judicial killings, torture, illegal
detention, disappearances and forced displacement.
The report states that
government agencies such as the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau, the
Frontier Corps and police are responsible for many
of the violations and it demands the government
take action.
HRW also suggests that the US
should press the government to suspend police and
military assistance and cooperation programs with
the Frontier Corps, the police and army units
based in Balochistan until military and civilian
authorities fully investigate and take appropriate
action against those committing the crimes.
The
HRW report urges Pakistan to implement mechanisms
to ensure that no security unit funded or trained
by the US is responsible for human-rights
violations and that adequate vetting and oversight
mechanisms are in place to help deter abuses.
The
report recommends the US push the Pakistani
government to investigate alleged human-rights
abuses committed by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ)
and other banned militant groups to hold those
responsible to account.
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