Panak’s Human Rights Report of March 2023 (Urdu)
Shaal: Baloch National Movement’s human rights department ‘Paank’ has presented its March 2023 report titled ‘Undeclare martial law in Balochistan.’
According to this report, In March 2023, Pakistan Army killed 7 people. Shepherd Allah Dad, a resident of the Kolwah area of the Awaran district of Balochistan, and Salahuddin Siyapad, a resident of the Kharan district, were brutally tortured while in custody. After the torture, both were released without providing necessary emergency medical aid, from which both victims died due to severe injuries sustained.
As Paank reports, Even though enforced disappearances have been highlighted as the most significant human rights issue in Balochistan, it has become a daily routine for the Pakistani Army in Balochistan to forcibly disappear people after extra-constitutional arrests. In March 2023, 58 persons forcibly disappeared, and only 31 persons out of thousands of enforced disappearances were released from the detention centres of the Pakistani army, who were subjected to mental and physical torture during their imprisonment. The Pakistani army has neither produced them in court nor explained the charges against them nor the reason for their arrest.
The report highlights media blackouts, Undeclared martial law, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and human rights violations by the police’s counter-terrorism department in Balochistan.
As Paank reports, With the appointment of Major Asif Ghafoor as Corps Commander in Balochistan, peaceful political activities were also banned in Balochistan, all civilian institutions were paralyzed, and Major Asif Ghafoor issued direct orders to all institutions of Balochistan like a colonial viceroy. Institutions like the Education Department, Health and Judiciary are also not immune from military intervention. Most of the Balochistan University area is occupied by Pakistan Army, and FC resides in the building. A Wing Commander of the Pakistani Army has also taken up residence in the official residence of the Vice Chancellor of Balochistan University. The electricity and gas bills of lakhs of rupees per month consumed by FC residing in Balochistan University are also paid by Balochistan University, which is already facing a severe financial crisis.
“Imprisoned in the media black hole and hidden from the eyes of the world, Balochistan has turned into a region of the world where the Pakistani army has no grip on human rights abuses. Even a one-day review of the situation in Balochistan, which is suffering from a humanitarian crisis, can assess the grave human rights situation here. The human rights situation assessment in March 2023 shows that human rights violations in Balochistan are increasing daily. The Pakistani army is unabashedly torturing the people of Balochistan to deprive them of their political and human rights.”
In his report, Paank also mentioned the state crackdown on Haq-Du-Tehreek Balochistan’s activists and leaders: On March 25, Haq-Du-Tehreek Councilor Haji Javed, Councilor Naveed Muhammad, Councilor Naseer Shahzada, Chairman Allah Bakhsh, Abid GM and Maulana Liaqat Baloch were also arrested after their bails were cancelled. The ban on political activities and freedom of opinion is a clear violation of human rights on which the Baloch people express their concern and raise questions that when the state and the guarantor of justice, the state judiciary, fail to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens then what criteria and principles will it be possible to determine the responsibility for the safety of citizens?
The report also expressed concern over the arrest of human rights activist Mahal Baloch in a fake case: “In this regard, Amnesty International has written a letter to the Interior Minister of Pakistan demanding the immediate release of Mahal Baloch. This action of Amnesty International is admirable but not proving to be effective, so Amnesty International must maintain its pressure on the Pakistani authorities to protect human rights, and all means must be used that guarantee the implementation of international human rights laws.”
Panak has criticised the role of the Pakistani judiciary by expressing dissatisfaction: “On February 12, 2023, were implicated in fake cases by the CTD. The court sentenced them to five years in prison. In their cases as well, the court has given its decision, accepting only the wishes of the Pakistani army as law. The Pakistani judiciary plays a dynamic role in other areas and other matters, and the Pakistani judiciary is famous for judicial proceedings based on Suo Moto. Still, the Pakistani judiciary has become biased in severe human rights cases in Balochistan. It plays a role as a facilitator of human rights violations in Balochistan for Pakistani forces.”
Complete Foreword of the Report:
Undeclared martial law in Balochistan
Important topics:
- Balochistan imprisoned in media black hole
- Undeclared martial law in Balochistan
- Situation of enforced disappearances in Balochistan
- Extrajudicial killing by the Pakistani army
- Police Counter-Terrorism Department and Human Rights Violations
Balochistan Imprisoned in media black hole:
Imprisoned in the media black hole and hidden from the eyes of the world, Balochistan has turned into a region of the world where the Pakistani army has no grip on human rights abuses. Even a one-day review of the situation in Balochistan, which is suffering from a humanitarian crisis, can assess the grave human rights situation here. The human rights situation assessment in March 2023 shows that human rights violations in Balochistan are increasing daily. The Pakistani army is unabashedly torturing the people of Balochistan to deprive them of their political and human rights.
With the appointment of Major Asif Ghafoor as Corps Commander in Balochistan, peaceful political activities were also banned in Balochistan, all civilian institutions were paralyzed, and Major Asif Ghafoor issued direct orders to all institutions of Balochistan like a colonial viceroy. Institutions like the Education Department, Health and Judiciary are also not immune from military intervention. Most of the Balochistan University area is occupied by Pakistan Army, and FC resides in the building. A Wing Commander of the Pakistani Army has also taken up residence in the official residence of the Vice Chancellor of Balochistan University. The electricity and gas bills of lakhs of rupees per month consumed by FC residing in Balochistan University are also paid by Balochistan University, which is already facing a severe financial crisis.
Undeclared martial law in Balochistan:
Haq-Du-Tehreek Balochistan is a non-partisan public movement that includes people from different parties and schools of thought. The movement’s leaders say that this movement is being run to get the rights of Balochistan peacefully. The centre of this movement is in Gwadar, the most important city of Balochistan, where China and Pakistan are working on major construction projects in their interests. This city is also the centre of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Baloch express their stand against these projects by calling them exploitative projects and protesting against them. Haq-Du-Tehreek Balochistan gathered millions of people in Gwadar to highlight the violations of Baloch rights in these projects. It demanded fundamental civil rights such as recovering enforced disappearances and preventing marine life genocide. It used force against protesters in Gwadar, arresting political activists and banning all kinds of political activity in Gwadar.
Corps Commander Balochistan Major Asif Ghafoor declared that they would be imprisoned if the people of Gwadar protested. Despite appearing in the court, the leader of Haq-Du Thereek Balochistan, Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman Baloch, was jailed for more than 75 days in fake cases, and his bail was withheld in the judiciary.
On March 25, Haq-Du-Tehreek Councilor Haji Javed, Councilor Naveed Muhammad, Councilor Naseer Shahzada, Chairman Allah Bakhsh, Abid GM and Maulana Liaqat Baloch were also arrested after their bails were cancelled. The ban on political activities and freedom of opinion is a clear violation of human rights on which the Baloch people express their concern and raise questions that when the state and the guarantor of justice, the state judiciary, fail to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens then what criteria and principles will it be possible to determine the responsibility for the safety of citizens? By making parliament a puppet in Balochistan, a public party like BNM has already been pushed towards non-parliamentary politics. When BNM took the path of non-parliamentary politics, around 85 workers and leaders were martyred, including BNM’s founding president chairman Ghulam Muhammad Baloch. For a long time, there was an undeclared ban on public gatherings in Balochistan, but in recent years, when the Baloch people again took the path of peaceful politics for their rights, the Pakistani army once again cracked down on Baloch political activists. A complete martial law situation has been created, and fake cases are being instituted after demanding human rights, so all voices raised for human rights can be silenced.
The situation of enforced disappearances in Balochistan:
Even though enforced disappearances have been highlighted as the most significant human rights issue in Balochistan, it has become a daily routine for the Pakistani Army in Balochistan to forcibly disappear people after extra-constitutional arrests. In March 2023, 58 persons forcibly disappeared, and only 31 persons out of thousands of enforced disappearances were released from the detention centres of the Pakistani army, who were subjected to mental and physical torture during their imprisonment. The Pakistani army has neither produced them in court nor explained the charges against them nor the reason for their arrest.
As the Pakistani army has made enforced disappearances a part of its daily practice, the state of Pakistan should be held accountable for restoring these persons’ physical and mental health after needlessly torturing them. The State of Pakistan is obliged to pay compensation for the time spent in prison by the victims of enforced disappearances or to provide an explanation in the courts of the charges and crimes that the Pakistani army has been accused of arresting, torturing and allowing them to be kept in torture cells indefinitely.
The sad part is that the local officials of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and other organizations that benefit from international aid and UN-related organizations in Pakistan are mostly silent on this sad aspect of human rights or give statements only on selected cases. They should play a proactive role in every enforced disappearance. Human rights organizations are not playing a role in rehabilitating the survivors of Pakistani army torture cells and protecting them from further enforced disappearances, which makes the state aware of them. There is no obstacle to continuing the stream. Pakistan Army feels free from all laws regarding crimes against humanity in Balochistan. Therefore, we reiterate that the silence of human rights and UN officials fuel Balochistan’s ongoing enforced disappearances and human rights abuses.
Extrajudicial killings by the Pakistani army:
In March 2023, Pakistan Army killed 7 people. Shepherd Allah Dad, a resident of the Kolwah area of the Awaran district of Balochistan, and Salahuddin Siyapad, a resident of the Kharan district, were brutally tortured while in custody. After the torture, both were released without providing necessary emergency medical aid, from which both victims died due to severe injuries sustained by the Pakistani army. Along with these persons, the people arrested by the Pakistani army were severely tortured and treated in local hospitals without government or non-government assistance and compensation.
Among them, Shaukat Tagapi, a resident of Kharan and an employee of the Balochistan government’s health department, and Sanjar, son of Bisham, a shepherd resident of Awaran district in Kolwah, are undergoing treatment at the civil hospital in Turbat.
Police Counter Terrorism Department and Human Rights Violations:
The Pakistan Army is using the Counter-Terrorism Department of the Police to give legal protection to the illegal activities of the Pakistan Army in Balochistan, which shows the arrests of the enforced disappearances by setting up fake cases at the behest of the Pakistani army. The victims’ families often avoid bringing on record due to fear and pressure from the Pakistani army.
Suppose the Pakistani army is convinced of someone’s anti-state activities. In that case, they keep him in prison for life without a fair trial or in enforced disappearance or extrajudicially kill him and throw his body away. Still, hundreds of people, mostly children aged 18 years and below, have been imprisoned on false charges after years of enforced disappearance, wasting precious years of their lives in Pakistani prisons for no crime. They are incarcerated in areas far away from their home where their families do not have access; they are not even provided prisoners facilities and rights.
The case of Mahal Baloch is a prominent case that has also come to the attention of international human rights organisations. The Pakistani army arrested her on February 17 from Satellite town, and later the CTD revealed her arrest. She was first accused of being a suicide bomber. The CTD changed its statement to say that she was the facilitator of the alleged failed suicide attack, who was allegedly arrested while transporting the suicide jacket. The truth is that she was arrested by the Pakistani army, her mother-in-law, and two children from her house.
Mahal Baloch’s arrest is due to her political and social activities and her role in releasing enforced disappearances. Mahal Baloch and her family have been raising voices for enforced disappearances and human rights in Balochistan; their activities are on the record. She has been implicated in a false case to silence her and other family members.
In a fake case, Mahal Baloch was presented four times in the Balochistan High Court. Still, instead of starting a legal case, he is being remanded repeatedly, and the court is extending the remand without any cross-examination under the pressure of the Pakistani army. Due to this, the court’s role is also doubtful, Mahal’s expectation of justice has weakened, and its impartial role is not seen.
CTD violated the right and laws of Mahal Baloch during her imprisonment and obtained her false statement through torture, and tried to mislead public opinion and spread hatred against her in the media. In presenting Mahal as an accused in the court and starting the proceedings against her, the Pakistani army is putting pressure on the court. On the other hand, her one-sided trial is being conducted in the media by torturing her. And for the protection of human rights, all means must be used that guarantee the implementation of international human rights laws.
In this regard, Amnesty International has written a letter to the Interior Minister of Pakistan demanding the immediate release of Mahal Baloch.
This action of Amnesty International is admirable but not proving to be effective, so Amnesty International must maintain its pressure on the Pakistani authorities to protect human rights, and all means must be used that guarantee the implementation of international human rights laws.
Similarly, students Saqib Sarpara and Sajid Sarpara, who forcibly disappeared from Shaal (Quetta) on February 12, 2023, were implicated in fake cases by the CTD. The court sentenced them to five years in prison. In their cases as well, the court has given its decision, accepting only the wishes of the Pakistani army as law. The Pakistani judiciary plays a dynamic role in other areas and other matters, and the Pakistani judiciary is famous for judicial proceedings based on Suo Moto. Still, the Pakistani judiciary has become biased in severe human rights cases in Balochistan. It plays a role as a facilitator of human rights violations in Balochistan for Pakistani forces.
