Addressing the 12th Balochistan International Conference, organised by the Baloch National Movement (BNM) at the Geneva Press Club, Jamal Baloch, media coordinator of the human-rights organisation Paank, presented figures from Paank’s documented reporting on enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and other human-rights violations in Balochistan.
The conference was dedicated to the memory of BNM chairman Shaheed Zubair Baloch.
Jamal Baloch said that over the past years Paank, the human-rights body under BNM, has documented thousands of incidents of human-rights violations and enforced disappearances. According to him, over the past six months 485 incidents of enforced disappearance were reported to Paank and became part of the documented record.
He made clear that this figure comprises only those incidents that were reported to Paank from various sources, and therefore it cannot be treated as the final number of enforced disappearances in Balochistan. According to him, many incidents cannot be reported, especially in circumstances in which affected families face pressure and threats.
Jamal Baloch said that an incident of enforced disappearance is not confined to the affected individual alone; its effects fall on the entire family. Some families also refrained from reporting the disappearance of their loved ones because they were threatened with further people being made to disappear or with other consequences.
Paank’s media coordinator said the organisation also received information of 181 extrajudicial killings over the past six months, of which Paank has confirmed numerous incidents.
He said the chain of enforced disappearances in Balochistan has continued for several decades, and that in the recent period incidents of enforced disappearance of women and children have also come to light. Over the past six months, 32 incidents of enforced disappearance of women and their children were recorded.
Jamal Baloch also mentioned incidents of torture of children and pressure in connection with persons in detention. He said that, according to information received by Paank, some detainees have stated complaints of children being tortured in front of them and of being forced to give statements against their will.
Referring to the production of some detainees on Pakistani media, he said that on such occasions some individuals are forced to read pre-prepared statements.
Citing Paank’s documented figures, Jamal Baloch said that according to the organisation’s record, on average 81 people are forcibly disappeared every month in Balochistan, and that of those forcibly disappeared an average of 30 people fall victim to extrajudicial killings.
He also mentioned drone strikes and aerial bombing in Balochistan and said that last month six people were killed in such attacks, including three children. In one attack a bomb weighing 285 kilograms was used, in which infant children were killed.
Jamal Baloch also mentioned actions against political activists in Balochistan and the leadership of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). He said that state power and legal proceedings are being used to suppress peaceful political activists.
He said incidents have come to light in which some political activists were first forcibly disappeared and later shown as arrested. According to Paank’s research, charges brought against these individuals are baseless.
He further said that before action against political activists, attempts are at times made through media campaigns to create a negative impression against them, which is part of a wider process of suppressing political voices in Balochistan.
Speaking on the judicial process, Jamal Baloch also referred to a recent judicial statement in which a judge, before the media, mentioned judicial pressure. He said that in the context of cases against political activists in Balochistan, questions also arise about judicial independence and the process of justice.
In his address, Jamal Baloch said that discussion of the human-rights situation in Balochistan often remains limited to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, whereas according to him the problem is far wider than that.
He said: for us the priority is only to say that we have the right to live. Our people have the right to live. We want freedom. We have the right to be free. We have the right to be in our schools.
He said the number and nature of human-rights violations are so extensive that it is not possible to describe every matter in a single address; however, it is necessary to put forward the people of Balochistan’s living, receiving education, freedom and attainment of fundamental rights as central human-rights demands.