Click here for partial list of missing persons, maintained by Intl Voice of Baloch Missing Persons
Reposted from BalochWarna, Nov 8, 2010: AFAD statement
Link to The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD): Website
Individual speeches at: BalochWarna

Baloch Tawaar: conference photos

GENEVA: Pakistan military and intelligence agencies received a big slap on their face Monday as many key international organizations focused their attention on the issues of enforced disappearances and Islamabad's official policy of 'kill and dump' slow motion genocide in Texas-sized Balochistan in southwest Asia.

By Ahmar Mustikhan

GENEVA, Pakistan military and intelligence agencies received a big slap on their face Monday as many key international organizations focused their attention on the issues of enforced disappearances and Islamabad's official policy of 'kill and dump' slow motion genocide in Texas-sized Balochistan in southwest Asia.

The Geneva Conference on Enforced Disapperances in Balochistan passed a resolution calling upon the United Nations to intervene in Balochistan to stop the crimes against humanity being perpetrated on the Baloch people by the Pakistan military, military intelligence, Frontier Corps Inter Services Intelligence and law-enforcement agencies.

The conference at the Warwick Hotel in the center of geneva was organized by the International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons in collaboration of the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

Balochistan national hero and heir-apparent of legendary Baloch leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri was the main sponsor of the conference.

On the occasion, a key U.N. official while calling for "national reconciliation" demanded reparation from Islamabad for the Baloch victims of Pakistani atrocities.

In a message, Jeremey Sarkin, president of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappreances said, '"I hope this conference is an important step in dealing with the issue of enforced disappearances. Resolving the question of enforced disappearance in any country is an important step towards achieving a national reconciliation. However, processes of truth, justice and reparation must also occur."

The conference was organized on the sidelines of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disppearances in Balochistan.

The secretary general of the premier Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), Mary Aileen Bacalso, presided over the morning session while the immediate past president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, Roy Brown, chaired the afternoon session.

On the occasion AFAD, which is a regional federation of organizations of families of the disappeared and human rights advocates directly working on the issue of enforced disappearance in Asia, expressed concern that it has been reported that the Pakistani intelligence agencies have started to employ the method of "kill and dump tactics," in which the victim is first abducted, tortured and killed in cold-blood and then dumped in open fields.

Bullet-ridden bodies of those abducted, many showing signs of torture, are increasingly being found across Balochistan.

Maya Pastakia, Afghanistan and Pakistan campaigner at the London head office of the Amnesty International, also expressed her concerns over the kill and dump policy being pursued in Balochistan, and gave out a presentation on how best to counter enforced disappearances in Balochistan in an organized fashion. This is the first time in its history the Amnesty International has begun giving focused attention to the issue of extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances in Balochistan.

The International Voice for Missing Baloch Persons expressed grave concern that the guardian of the international humanitarian law, the International Committee for the Red Cross stayed away from the conference in spite of repeated invitations, but expressed relief that the I.C.R.C. has said it will look into establishing a 24-hour telephone hotline for victim families of extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture.

The AFAD said it received information from its international friends from Balochistan areas that more than 8,000 activists were forcibly made to disappear by Pakistani intelligence agencies and the fates and whereabouts of many of whom are still unknown.

In the recent report of the Asian Human Rights Commission, it has been estimated that the number of Baloch men, women and children abducted by Pakistani intelligence agencies reached 8,000 over the last five years.

"Activists, politicians and student leaders are among those who have been targeted in enforced disappearances, abductions, arbitrary arrests and cases of torture and other ill-treatment. The violence takes place against a backdrop of increasing political unrest and ongoing military operations in the Balochistan areas," the AFAD statement signed by chairperson Mugiyanto and secretary-general Mary Aileen Bacalso said.

AFAD said despite being rich in natural resources, the Baloch people remain economically marginalized and receive little or no benefit from the Balochistan economy.

In its efforts to counter the Baloch struggle, the Pakistani government has attempted to suppress this opposition by increasing the military presence in the region. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed at the hands of the Pakistani security forces. Many people are reported to have been subjected to enforced disappearance, torture, summary executions and deaths in custody with each passing day.

In a heart-rending speech, Laurie Deamer, presiding council member of the American Friends of Balochistan, called Pakistan an occupying state that has thrown the Geneva Conventions to the winds in Balochistan.

"They have anxiously gone from one police station or army camp to the next, desperately hoping to find them, and at each one they have faced the denial of the officials who arrested them, claiming to have no information regarding their whereabouts or fate," Deamer said about the plight of the victim families.

Deamer added, "They take to the streets and set up hunger strikes, waiting for the international community to put pressure on the occupying State to either inform them of their loved ones whereabouts or release them. They can see that their children are anxious and depressed. They are already beside themselves with worry, and on top of that they face overwhelming financial hardship."

She said many of the victim families are now almost certain that their relative have been killed in custody, and ask only that their bodies be entrusted to them so as to bury their loved one with dignity and honor. "These families plead for justice now, asking that the State, which has devalued human life and violated international law and the Geneva conventions, be held accountable," Deamer said.

AFAD said although, the human rights violations are equally attributable to both the Pakistani army and the Baloch nationalist rebels, it is the Pakistani state which is largely responsible for the continuing violence and attack against the Balochistan civilian population," AFAD said.

AFAD said another case is that of a renowned Baloch lawyer, columnist and poet, Mr Ali Sher Kurd who was abducted on 21 September from Quetta and his mutilated body was found on 24 September 2010 in Khuzdar town in Balochistan.

"It is really a shame on the Pakistani government to take advantage of the existing political unrest as a justification for its obvious act to terrorize the Balochistan people and to exterminate them through ethnic cleansing," AFAD said.

AFAD said it was very clear that the suppression of fundamental freedoms and civil liberties are not meant to crush the rebellions alone but to suppress the democratic demands of Balochistan people for self-determination and social emancipation.

In November 2009, the Pakistani government announced a package of proposed policy and legislation reforms for Balochistan and promised to resolve the cases of enforced disappearances as soon as possible. It has, so far, failed to do so.

AFAD said, "The continuing military offensives and the report of the clandestine conduct of nuclear tests in the Balochistan area by the Pakistani army which started in 1998 is no less an act of genocide, one that can be condemned as a crime against humanity."

AFAD said the grim situation does not only demand condemnation but also for an urgent action. Thus, AFAD calls on the government of Pakistan to:

"Stop the growing commission of human rights violations and other atrocities in the Balochistan areas. The rise in enforced disappearances and "kill and dump" incidents have only aggravated the already existing political tensions in the region and have already led to the spare of reprisal killings by Baloch armed groups.

"End the ongoing militarization and find peaceful ways to resolve the five decades of political rebellion.

"Fulfill its human rights obligations as enshrined in its Constitution and embodied in the number of international covenants and other instruments which Pakistan is a party to and to investigate the human rights violations particularly the commission of enforced disappearance, punish the perpetrators and provide justice and reparations to victims and their families.

"Show its sincerity and commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights by signing and ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance."

The AFAD reiterated it believes that any efforts towards peace will be meaningless and empty unless a peaceful resolution of existing conflict be based on truth and justice.

James Nichols, lawyer for Hyrbyair Marri in his terror trial in London, said the trial of Hyrbyair Marri in London was a big scam and mockery of justice unprecedented in the legal history of the United Kingdom.

Nichols, who had met slain Baloch political activist Ghulam Mohammed when he went to Quetta on behalf of his client, and that he was devastated when he heard about the enforced disappearance and subsequent killing and dumping of bodies of Ghulam Mohammed, Lala Munir Baloch and Sher Mohammed Baloch.

The three activists were abducted from their lawyer's office by the military intelligence on April 3, 2009 and their bodies were found four days later from Pidarak foothills outside Turbat.

In his speech, Karlos Zurutuza, who visited the Baloch areas of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, and who was recently in Kabul, said he met foreign correspondents in Kabul, who were earlier based in Islamabad, but "none", had ever visited Balochistan.

"All of these colleagues told me that they'd love to travel to Quetta and surroundings, but that they couldn't because Islamabad did not give them permission to do so. If they did, they said, they would be deported never to set foot in Pakistan again," Zurutuza, who is a winner of the Nawab Akbar Bugti Reporting Award said.

"I'm now thinking of Carlotta Gall, a very reputed journalist working for one of the biggest newspapers in the world [The New York Times]. She was badly beaten in Quetta by men who identified themselves as members of a special branch of the Pakistan police, and who accused her of "being in Quetta without permission."

Zurutuza said everything suggests that Baluohistan will remain a n area where a well-planned, slow motion genocide, is being inflicted to the local population, and where there's no foreign media present to report.

Zurutuza said he was surprised he could travel freely in Afghanistan in contrast to Pakistan and Iran. "Yes, Afghanistan is a war-torn country but, isn't Pakistan, as well? I am personally convinced that there are more Talibans in the city of Quetta than in the whole of Nimroz province. And you have to add to this the myriad of Pakistani agents who are largely responsible for the missing Baloch we're focusing on today,' Zurutuza said.

Zurutuza said Islamabad and Teheran portray a negative image of the Baloch. "'Most of the Baloch are terrorists' I would hear repeatedly in Pakistan; 'Do not go down there, they are terrorists and drug smugglers' was the recurrent buzz in Tehran and Isfahan. The reactions against the Baloch were always strong, but I rarely came across anyone who had ever visited the area they recommended not to travel."

Zurutuza accused both Tehran and Islamabad of defaming the Baloch. "First they are accused of the most horrendous crimes. And then, when the propaganda has achieved the desired effect, the Baloch can be hanged in public squares, dumped from helicopters, or their villages razed."

The International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons said the reason they chose to hold this conference in Geneva was that the city is the human rights capital of the world but the world appears to have forgotten about the human rights violations in Balochistan.

"We have come here because this is the city that gave birth to one of the greatest men in history, Henry Dunant. This is the city where Henry Dunant's vision today stands as the huge building across from the Palais des Nations (I.C.R.C. headquarters) that dispatches angels of mercy all over the world. We have come here to ask the International Committee of the Red Cross for help. We have come to urge them please bring Balochistan -- the land of the Baloch -- on the agenda of safeguarding the international humanitarian law.

The I.V.B.M.P. representative said, "There is a war going on in Balochistan not many people have heard about. That war is a war of liberation. Baloch have an issue: they are not Pakistanis and no amount of extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances or torture is going to change their national will."

The I.V.B.M.P. representative cited a paragraph from a news item that reads: "The victims were shot in the forehead and a bullet passed through the skull besides signs of torture on their faces, hands and other parts of their bodies. Their hands were also tied to the back of their body with ropes. 'I have attended several bodies. All of them were killed similarly,' said Dr Baqer Shah from the Bolan Medical College Teaching Hospital."

The I.V.B.M.P. thanked Amnesty International for condemning Pakistan's human rights violations in Balochistan.

Amnesty International recently demanded of the Pakistani government to investigate the torture and killings of more than 40 Baloch leaders and political activists over the past four months, Amnesty International said in a statement two weeks ago.

"The Pakistani government must act immediately to provide justice for the growing list of atrocities in Balochistan," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director.

"Baloch political leaders and activists are clearly being targeted and the government must do much more to end this alarming trend... The Pakistani government must show that it can and will investigate the Pakistani military and Frontier Corps, as well as intelligence agencies, who are widely accused of playing a role in these incidents."

Amnesty International warned that the rise in enforced disappearances and kill and dump incidents has aggravated political tensions in Baluchistan and led to reprisal killings by Baloch armed groups.

The I.V.B.M.P. said the Amnesty International report made one big mistake, however. It says local people in Balochistan are demanding a bigger share of the revenue generated by the province's natural resources, elaborating, "the Baloch people want nothing less than freedom."

The I.V.B.M.P. said the I.C.R.C. has promised it will look into establishing a 24-hour telephone hotline in Balochi and Brahuvi languages to immediately probe cases of extra judicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture. "We welcome the good news from the I.C.R.C. and hope it will not be lost in some bureaucratic files."

The I.V.B.M.P. said so far the I.C.R.C. had totally failed ot meet its obligations as the guardian of international humanitarian law in Balochistan.

Hybyair Marri said countless Baloch are being tortured to death on a daily basis and buried without an autopsy and called upon I.C.R.C. to dispatch doctors to Balochistan to perform post mortem examination of freedom lovers who are being tortured to death.

The I.V.B.M.P., without naming former senator Sanaullah Baloch, said some Baloch friends make very nice speeches and tell the world what is going on -- how, where, when -- but miss out one of the most important Ws. "That W is 'Why.' The answer to that is the Baloch do not call themselves Pakistanis and want Balochistan to be free. This yearning is not against international law and must be respected by all parties, human rights organizations, countries and states."

According to sources close to Balochistan governor nawab Zulfikar Ali Magsi a key tribal leader who is Sanaullah Baloch's patron-in-chief had sold thousands of acres of his tribe's land to the Pakistan military for building a huge cantonment in Khuzdar by using. The tribal leader used his first name only to hide the treachery.

The I.V.B.M.P. deplored that the Frontier Corps that supports Taliban operations inside Afghanistan. are conducting a slow motion genocide by describing the Baloch as anti-Islam. "A Baloch may be pro- or anti-Islam. It does not give Pakistani authorities the license to kill them," the I.V.B.M.P. representative said.

The I.V.B.M.P. thanked the International Humanist and Ethical Union for helping organize the conference.

The I.V.B.M.P. also urged the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearnces to put in place a mechanism for easy travel of family members of victims of enforced disappearances to Geneva, involving visa exemption and travel assistance.

The I.V.B.M.P. activist said the humanitarian organization was launched in August on the call of Farzana Majeed, sister of Zakir Majeed, who was abducted on June 8, 2009 and is still missing. It urged Baloch brothers and sisters to unite in the face of Pakistani barbarism, pointing out there is no choice because "if we have a fire at home how can we fight the enemy."

Others who spoke on the occasion included, Aziz Baloch, IVBMP Canada Chapter coordinator; Rene Wadlow, geneva representative of the Association of World Citizens; Dr. S. Karimzadi, UK Coordinator of the IVBMP; Mahnaz Baloch, baloch human rights activist based in London, and Zubair Baloch, prsident of the Baloch Society of Norway.