Shaal: Paank, the human rights Department of the Baloch National Movement, has released the July report on human rights in Balochistan.In this regard, an online press conference was also held on the Twitter account of Radio Zrumbesh Urdu.
In the press conference, Human Rights Secretary of BNM, Dr. Nazir Noor, described the important events and incidents that happened in the month of July regarding human rights.
According to Paank’s report, In the month of July, 46 people were forcibly disappeared by the Pakistani army, 28 of them were released after torture, while 18 are still forcibly missing.11 persons were killed in custody, of which seven persons were identified by their relatives who had already been forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces. Two people were killed and 6 were seriously injured in the violent actions of Pakistani forces. Pakistani army’s paid target killers ‘publicly killed’ a Baloch refugee in Afghanistan. While a refugee in Azerbaijan died under mysterious circumstances, the family members expressed fears that the cause of his death could be murder.
Dr.Nazir Noor Said , Last month, a new chapter was added regarding custodial killings of forcedly disappeared person, although this is not the first incident where Pakistani law enforcement agencies killed forcibly disappeared persons in fake encounters. Earlier, in several incidents, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the police under the Pakistan Army had killed many forcibly disappeared persons in fake encounters. But it has happened for the first time that in immediate response to the action of a Baloch pro freedom organization, 11 forcibly disappeared people were killed in custody and termed them as attackers.
“After the Ziarat tragedy, the claims of the government and the lack of interest and non-cooperation of the state institutions in identifying the persons killed in custody have made the identity of the persons killed in this fake encounter doubtful. one of these bodies was identified as ‘Engineer Zaheer Baloch’. According to Engineer Zaheer Baloch’s Sister Uzma Baloch her brother Engineer Zaheer Baloch was forcibly disappeared on 07 October 2021 by the Pakistani Army personnel from the airport road Quetta where his office ‘Smart ways Consultancy Pvt Ltd’ is located.” Mr. Noor says.
“On 19 July 2022, his sister Uzma Baloch confirmed the martyrdom of her brother. State Minister Zia Langau also confirmed the death of all the above-mentioned persons including Zaheer in his press conference and termed them as ‘terrorists’. After Zia Longau’s press conference and the killing of the forcibly disappeared persons in a fake contest, the families of the forcibly disappeared persons have been protesting at various places in Quetta for several weeks. The government announced the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the ‘Ziarat Tragedy’ after protests by the relatives. Hence then the military establishment mobilized and in Balochistan, military backed death squad operatives staged protests against the Judicial Commission. Ironically, the worrisome aspect of this whole situation is that On July 29, 2022, from the house of Noor Ahmad Bangulzahi, the leader of the death squad and Pakistan Peoples Party’s Balochitsn chapter: “Engineer Zaheer came to the fore.” He says.
He said, Noor Ahmad Bangulzahi, representing the Pakistan Army, alleged that the claim of Enforced Disappearance of Engineer Zaheer was false, He had voluntarily left home to go to Europe and was imprisoned in Iran. However, Engineer Zaheer’s name is not included in the list of people deported from Iran, nor Engineer Zaheer is allowed to move freely. Rather, he is still in the custody of the state death squad.
In this regard, Dr.Nazir expresses its concern and demands to ensure that there is no pressure on Engineer Zaheer’s family and he can move like a free citizen. His statement in death squad custody should be inspected and at the same time, the DNA test of the deceased who was buried as Engineer Zaheer should be done.
In addition, He support the demands of the families of the forcibly disappeared, and request human rights organizations to put pressure on Pakistan to accept the demands of the families “Formation of judicial commission on Ziarat tragedy, safe release of all forcibly disappeared persons and the families of the forcibly disappeared persons should be assured that no detained person will be targeted in fake encounters.”
Paank’s report also mentions the death of two Baloch refugees abroad. Dr. Nazir said with reference to the report that on July 13, 2022, Saqib Karim died in Azerbaijan by drowning like two Baloch refugees Baloch journalist Sajid Husain and BNM leader Karima Baloch. There is similarity in the three deaths, it should be investigated.
He said that on July 19, 2022, Jalam Khan son of Khan Muhammad Langani Murri was killed by the hired killers of the Pakistani army as a declared target. We demand the Afghan government to expose the killers and take concrete measures to protect the Baloch refugees living in Afghanistan.
He said, according to verified data, 129 people have died and 66 have been injured due to floods in Balochistan, about 665 kilometers of roads have been washed away, 13 bridges have been affected, 2431 solar panels became disabled, 706 livestock have died, 16 dams have been affected, crops standing on 197,930 hectares have been washed away, 11,775 houses have been damaged. Of these, 8,874 houses were partially damaged while 2,901 houses were completely destroyed. He is quick to add that “ It should be noted that these figures are rejected by local welfare organizations, according to them the damage is more than that.”
Dr. Nazir said the losses of Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur areas of Balochistan are not included. There has also been loss of life and property. Apart from this, grape, apple and date orchards in Shaal, Mastung, Kalat, Qila Saifullah, Pashin, Zhobe, Loralai, Khuzdar, Wadah and Lasbela suffered losses worth millions of rupees. Makuran produces about 1 million tons of dates annually which are severely damaged by monsoon rains.
He said Balochistan is a region in the world that is badly affected by climate change. While construction projects designed for foreign interests in Balochistan also lead to diversion of flood and rainwater towards the population. CPEC is also included in the list of these small and large projects that have laid a network of roads across Balochistan but neglected the interest of the local population and the natural flow of rivers. Due to which the infrastructure in Balochistan has been badly damaged in the irregular rains and agricultural lands, crops, gardens, livestock and plantations have been irreparably damaged. In the recent flood situation, the residents of Gwarast, Girishag, District Khuzdar have also held a protest against the CPEC. They say that we had requested the relevant authorities to increase the height of the bridge at the time of construction on the CPEC route, but their demands were not accepted, due to which the non-standard bridge could not withstand the flow of water. Which resulted the flow of water turned towards the population due to which the entire village inundated with flood water. Local people say that if it was not daytime, many human lives could have been lost due to non-evacuation of the population in time. The CPEC M8 route passes through agricultural lands in Teertij Village of Awaran district. This road has also caused the flood water to be diverted towards the population which has affected the village.
He held responsible the state mismanagement for the loss in the current flood situation of Balochistan and said that Balochistan needs massive help to deal with this flood situation. The international organizations should also evaluate that the construction of infrastructures and dams under the CPEC has no role in increasing the current flood situation in Balochistan. It should be investigated that large dams cause floods when it rains, but when there are no rains, they are unable to meet the needs of a few cities with small populations in Balochistan. Not evacuating the population in time, not taking emergency safety measures for travelers and not providing timely assistance to the victims are prominent examples of mismanagement that has led to the increase in death tolls in the current flood situation that is why we term this state of affair as ‘The disaster of state mismanagement’.