Original article at BalochWarna | September 5, 2011 | Full Story
Also see Bygwaah.com: HR bodies urged to play role for recovery of missing persons

By Shahzada Zulfiqar

Occupied Balochistan - The sister of missing Baloch Students Organisation-Azad (BSO-Azad) leader Zakir Majeed Baloch asked international human rights organisations to help recover Baloch missing persons, including her brother, who was allegedly whisked away by intelligence agencies two years ago.

Addressing a press conference at Quetta Press Club on Sunday, Zakir Majeed's sister asked not to be named. She said all missing Baloch should be treated under the Geneva Conventions and should be recovered immediately. She said her brother, Zakir Majeed, who was a student and BSO-Azad senior vice chairman, was taken by intelligence agencies on June 8 2009 from Khuzdar. Subsequently, she said her family had received no information about his whereabouts and had undergone pain and feared for his life. She said her brother never partook in unlawful activities.

She said if he committed a crime he should be brought to court and not kept in a torture cell. "We have registered our protest using democratic means, holding rallies and observing hunger strikes, but our protest has been in vain," she said. Speaking about the government commission on missing persons, she said the Baloch had lost trust in commissions which aimed to prolong the matter. "Over 200 decomposed dead bodies of Baloch missing persons have been recovered so far and if immediate efforts are not made all those in custody of intelligence agencies will turn up dead and decomposed," she said.

She appealed to international human rights organisations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN body to take strong notice of the killing and dumping of Baloch missing persons in desolate areas and streets after torture at the hand of intelligence agencies.

Responding to a question, she said if humanitarian organisations exerted pressure on the Pakistani government, the lives of missing persons could be saved. Responding to another question, she dispelled the impression that missing persons were abroad. "Had they been abroad, we would not be protesting," she said.