New York: Pakistan`s military and
intelligence agencies are indulging in "enforced
disappearances" of individuals in the restive Balochistan,
which the civilian government has not been able to stop, Human
Rights Watch has said in a scathing attack.
The 132-page report, "`We Can Torture, Kill, or Keep
You for Years`: Enforced Disappearances by Pakistan Security
Forces in Balochistan", documents dozens of enforced
disappearances, in which the authorities take people into
custody and then deny all responsibility or knowledge of their
fate or whereabouts.
The report details 45 alleged cases of enforced
disappearances, the majority in 2009 and 2010.
While hundreds of people have been forcibly
disappeared in Balochistan since 2005, dozens of new enforced
disappearances have occurred since Pakistan returned to
civilian rule in 2008.
"Pakistan`s government should immediately end
widespread disappearances of suspected militants and activists
by the military, intelligence agencies, and the paramilitary
Frontier Corps in the southwestern province of Balochistan,"
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in the report released today.
"Pakistan`s security forces are engaging in an abusive
free-for-all in Balochistan as Baloch nationalists and
suspected militants `disappear,` and in many cases are
executed," Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW said.
"The national government has done little to end the
carnage in Balochistan, calling into question its willingness
or ability to control the military and intelligence agencies,`
he was quoted as saying in a release.
Those targeted for enforced disappearance were
primarily Baloch nationalist activists or suspected Baloch
militants.
In several cases, people appeared to have been
targeted because of their tribal affiliation, especially when
a particular tribe, such as the Bugti or Mengal, was involved
in fighting Pakistan`s armed forces, the report said.
Little information is available about what happens to
people who are forcibly disappeared.
Some have been held in unacknowledged detention in
facilities run by the Frontier Corps and the intelligence
agencies, such as at the Kuli camp, a military base in Quetta,
the provincial capital of Balochistan, it said.
"Pakistani security services are brazenly
disappearing, torturing, and often killing people because of
suspected ties to the Baloch nationalist movement," Adams
said, adding "This is not counter insurgency it is barbarism
and it needs to end now."
PTI
