The Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Justice Ifthakar Mohammad Chaudhary and the Inspector General of the Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan, Major General Ubaidullah Khan engaged in a fascinating conversation on Monday during the ongoing hearing of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the issue of the missing Baloch persons.

It is too premature and simplistic to hope that the ongoing hearing will lead to the release or recovery of all the missing persons in Balochistan. But such conversations, which should have ideally started as early as 2004, are a healthy and positive development. Monday’s hearing showed how security forces had mismanaged Balochistan for almost a decade. They committed all illegal acts and easily got away with it because of the absence of  a culture of accountability.

The Balochistan Police once again embarrassed the FC by sharing the video evidence of the extrajudicial disappearance of a Baloch citizen who was forcefully whisked away by FC personnel. The judges, it seemed, were fully convinced about the authenticity of the video. On the top of it, the Deputy Inspector General of Balochistan, Hamid Shakil, also told the court that members of Balochistan’s Traffic Police had seen under their nose the illegal actions of the FC personnel in broad daylight. One such example, the DIG said, was the forceful detention of 29-year old Mehran Khan whose forced disappearance was witnessed by traffic police officers. While the FC had justified Mr. Khan’s detention by accusing him of  indulging into criminal activities, the FC now denies having him in its custody.

When the Chief Justice asked the Inspector General to provide an answer to the strong evidence available against his force, the IG even brushed aside the authenticity of the video. He insisted that the folks shown in the video were actually not Fc personnel but ‘criminals’ who had worn the FC uniform. This is a shocking remark from the head of such an important security force who, after all,  has not been asked to review a Bollywood action movie but to provide an honest account of the deplorable state of FC’s involvement in human rights abuses.

The defensive IG is unwilling to accept any solid evidence against his force. He was baffled when the Chief Justice asked him about the official vehicles the personnel used while whisking away the Baloch boy and also lack of action at FC check posts. The IG had no satisfactory answers to the valid and tough questions of the Chief Justice but he still refused to take responsibility for the charges leveled against FC men.

The Chief Justice has ordered the IG FC to come up with better results in the next hearing on the same topic on May 21st. As stated above, there is not much this hearing is going to immediately achieve in terms of seeking the release of  allthe missing persons. But this is still a very important dialogue among important government officers who, in the past, had been easily forgiving each other’s negligence of duty. That culture  of impunity is diminishing, some signs show.

Officers like the IG FC are being asked again and again about the illegal actions of the FC which is a positive beginning toward bringing security forces under civilian control. Had the judiciary taken the same level of interest several months ago, hundreds of the missing persons  in Balochistan would not lose their lives in kill and dump operations.

Published in The Baloch Hal  on May 15, 2012

The Baloch Hal Monitoring Desk

ISLAMABAD: Inspector General Frontier Corps Major General Obaidullah Khan and Balochistan Inspector General Police apperaing before the Supreme Court as it heard a case on Balochistan security and cases of missing persons, left everyone stunned on Monday. No person involved in almost 2000 terrorist attacks had been arrested in Balochistan since 2011 on the basis of investigations they told the court.
The revelations were made by the Inspector General of Frontier Corps Major General Obaidullah Khattak in the Supreme Court before Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. He added that those currently in custody are those who had surrendered themselves up or had confessed to 886 attacks.
CJP Chaudhry observed that in 95 per cent of the cases, people of the province had blamed FC involvement. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain observed that once FC and security institutions were enjoying the relations of trust and respect with the public, but this had drastically decreased due to FC’s errant strategy.
Major General Khattak, answering court summons, appeared before the Supreme Court on Monday. He said that the three missing persons, allegedly abducted by FC, were currently being traced.
The court, however, was less than convinced with his arguments and told him to restrict FC’s activities to within its lawful ambit.
A video was also screened during the proceedings showing FC personnel picking up a boy and speeding away in a vehicle, that boy is now missing. The IGFC, however, denied the charge, saying that there existed the possibility that FC uniforms were being misused by unknown people.
He added that as per FC standard operating procedures (SOPs), at least two vehicles ply on the road side by side at any given point in time.
The court raised several questions after watching the video but IGFC could not satisfy the court in this regard. When the court asked him why the particular vehicle was not stopped at a check post by security officials, Khattak said that that the check post actually did not belong to the FC.
The chief justice asked whether FC and police was not on same page for maintenance of law and order situation of the country.
Making no headway in extracting satisfactory answers regarding the missing persons, an exasperated CJP Chaudhry asked “General, if FC is also not aware about whereabouts of the missing persons, then tell us whether the missing people ‘aasman kha gaya ya zameen nigal gayee’ (whether they were eaten by the sky or the ground opened up and swallowed them whole)?”
The court then gave the police and FC chiefs half an hour for a joint conference to formulate a strategy to recover the missing people.
After conference, both IGP Balcohistan and IGFC assured the court that they realise their duties and they will ensure the recovery of missing persons before next date of hearing, scheduled for May 21. The court asked both top officers to make joint efforts for the recovery and also directed the to collect relevant data for the purpose.
“General, keep in mind briefing about other cases of law and order and missing persons when this bench will convene in Quetta from May 21 to hear this case.”
General Khattak while giving assurance to the court said that recovering missing persons had now become their common object now. “You will see progress on your visit to Quetta,” general assured the Chief Justice.
During the hearing, Khattak told the court that that the FC was taking keen interest in recovery of the missing persons.
Hamid Shakeel, DIG Balochistan, repeated his statement before the court that traffic police officials have witnessed FC personnel abducting Mehran Khan, son of Murad Khan in broad daylight. He added that FC men had told the sergeant that Khan, 29, was wanted in a case of indiscriminate firing on the forces. (Courtesy: The Express Tribune)

Reproduced in The Baloch Hal on May 15, 2012

The Baloch Hal Monitoring Desk

QUETTA: Two paramilitary troops and two passersby were killed and 34 people, including women and children, were injured in a bomb explosion at a busy roundabout in the provincial capital on Monday.
“An explosive laden car parked on Airport Road at Almo Chowk was detonated by terrorists when two vehicles of the paramilitary Frontier Corps drove past,” Malik Arshad, the superintendent of police, Airport Road Circle, told The Express Tribune.
A man identifying himself as a member of the banned Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to a private television channel.
“The target was the FAC convoy. Most of the injured are passersby, including five women and three children,” he added.
According to the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), around 40 kilogrammes of high explosives were used in the blast which destroyed eight vehicles. At least 10 vehicles, 18 shops and two banks were also damaged in the blast.
Windowpanes of dozens of houses, offices and auto showrooms were smashed due to the impact of the blast which was heard within a radius of six kilometres.
Almo Chowk is a busy roundabout where a huge market, scores of auto showrooms, government offices and restaurants are located.
The explosion ignited a fire on at least eight vehicles and the people travelling in received shrapnel wounds. The two FC vehicles targeted were destroyed.
A heavy contingent of security forces threw a security cordon around the blast site as rescuers shifted the casualties to the Sandeman Hospital, Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and FC Headquarters Hospital. A state of emergency was declared at the Sandeman hospital.
According to witnesses, the car used in the blast was parked along a footpath. “I was driving my pickup right behind the FC convoy. As soon as they neared Almo Chowk, a powerful blast went off,” one of the men wounded in the blast told The Express Tribune from his hospital bed.
The FC spokesperson confirmed that two paramilitary soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in the blast. He identified the dead troopers as Waseem Abbas and Aziz.
Medics at the Sandeman Hospital said that they have received one fatality and 32 injured people.
“Five women and three children are among the injured. Two of the women with life-threatening wounds were referred to the CMH,” a doctor told The Express Tribune. “However, one of them expired on her way to the hospital.”
It was a second deadly attack on the paramilitary force in as many months. Last month an FC convoy was targeted on Saryab Road in which two passersby were killed and dozens others injured. (Courtesy: Express Tribune) 

Reproduced in The Baloch Hal on May 15th, 2012.

Why are there no reactions, both from the government and the civil society, to the brazen and bizarre statement of Balochistan Communication Minister Ali Madad Jattak that there is nothing wrong with indulging into corruption? A person holding a public office and defending corruption would have indeed been kicked out of the cabinet had he lived and worked in a civilized country with a functioning democracy.

Mr. Jattak is going to continue to work in his office because he works under a boss who once publicly endorsed possession of fake and fraudulent degrees for the members of the Parliament. Aslam Raisani, Jattak’s boss and Balochistan’s current chief minister, told the media that a degree was a degree whether it was fake or original. This is a sickening state of affairs in Balcohistan where overt defenders of corruption and fraud hold public offices. There is no reaction on the part of the civil society ostensibly because of public sense of powerlessness and despondency. The ordinary citizen in the province is caught between rogue and repressive intelligence agencies, security forces and a bunch of crooks occupying public offices.

While talking about the conflict in Balochistan, one key area that almost always remains ignored is the performance of the provincial government. One often hears about the illegal actions of the military and the intelligence agencies, flawed policies of the federal government and a growing rebellion in the province among the youth who aspire to seek independence from Pakistan. What we do sufficiently hear about is the members of the provincial government who get the least attention in the conflict. If not getting attention is a blessing then only ministers in the Balochistan government can explain its benefits.

Balochistan has a group of permanent members of the Pakistani Establishment who continue to rule the province during all good or bad times. This bunch of individuals mainly comprises of tribal chiefs and the clergy. They have nominal political affiliations. They switch political loyalties with the change in the federal government. They join the Pakistan Muslim League, either Nawaz or the Quaid-e-Azam League, when this party rules the country but instantly become members or supporters of the Pakistan People’s Party when it comes into power. Thus, there is a little that changes in Balochistan’s internal politics following an electoral process. This group of people will remain in power no matter what Balochistan’s relations with the central government look like. For example, more than half of today’s provincial government comprises of the loyalists of General Musharraf. They immediately become supporters of the PPP as Musharraf lost popularity. Some of them are gradually becoming admirers of Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan keeping in view the changing politics in the country.

What is missing is the clear absence of a political or civil society-driven movement in Balochistan that calls for accountability of the provincial government. The current assembly of 65 members has only one member of the opposition whereas everyone else is a part of the government as a minister or an adviser. They are corrupt to such an extent that they, just like Mr. Jattak, publicly defend corruption because they know that they are not answerable to anyone for their deeds. While being skeptical and cynical of government policies is a positive attitude in a democratic culture, pessimism and complete disassociation is catastrophic.  It offers a free opportunity to politicians to misuse public office and indulge into corruption. Lack of public interest leads to lack of the primary public quest for accountability.  No one can help the people of Balochistan but themselves to stand against the status quo.

The youth in Balochistan, political parties and the media must play a vibrant role in holding the provincial government accountable just like the way they vigorously fight the federal government for its exploitation of the province’s mineral wealth and committing human rights abuses.  The people should give up a policy of forgiving to their elected representatives for whatever nonsensical statements they make.  We would also like to urge the Minister to apologize for his remarks. The PPP central leadership should take notice of his remarks and it must discourage such undemocratic attitude in the greater interest of the democracy. Democracy should not be deemed as a means to absolute authority and stark impunity. If unchecked, such arrogant (mis)use of power leads to collapse of democracy in any given society and serve as the catalyst for authoritarianism.

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 14, 2012

By Mohammad Zafar

GWADAR: Planning Commission (PC) Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haq has asked the Balochistan government to study feasibility report of the Gwadar Port and look into the prospects of its development by keeping in view the progress in port cities of neighbouring countries – Chabahar of Iran and Jabal-e-Ali of the UAE.

Dr Nadeem and his three-member team held a meeting Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani on Sunday and discussed prospects of the port city with him.

Provincial ministers Maulana Abdul Wasey, Mir Asim Gaillu, Zahoor Buledi, Mir Hamal Kalmati, Syed Ehsan Shah and Mir Asghar Rind and Chief Secretary Fatah Babar Yaqub were also present in the meeting.

The federal government assured the Balochistan government of its support for development of the Gwader Port and advised the province to review its feasibility report and make it economically viable.

Dr Nadeem said that the provincial government should present its recommendations to the federal government to make the Gwader Port operational.

The meeting was informed that 80 percent work of the Gwader-Rato Dero Highway had been completed at a cost of Rs 15 billion and remaining work would be completed within a couple of months. The chief secretary told the meeting that all security agencies had assured the provincial government of their full cooperation regarding the security of officials working on development projects. He said that the port had been envisaged as the growth engine of Balochistan and people attached high hopes to it. He warned that if the port project failed it would have negative impact on Balochistan development. He said that it had been envisaged in feasibility report that 6.2 million tonnes of cargo would be handled at the port by 2030.

He informed the meeting that the federal government was firm in its resolve to make the port fully operational in the near future, but was reviewing its economic prospects. He said that federal government would also issue directions for the National Highway Authority (NHA) for early completion of Gwader-Turbat-Rato Dero Highway, linking the port city with the Indus Highway. The deputy chairman asked officials of the Gwader Port Authority to explain as to why the Singapore Port Authority, which was awarded contract for port operation during the Musharraf government, was not working at the port.

An NHA official told the meeting that contractors and labourers were reluctant to work on the highway due to security reasons. Raisani assured that foolproof arrangements would be made for security of contractors and workers.

He said that the NHA officials did not inform the provincial government about the difficulties they had faced during the development work and wrote directly to the federal government. The chief minister complained that the Balochistan package had not been implemented and that the notification regarding the Balochistan chief minister as the Gwader Port Authority chairman was still pending. He said that the NHA had committed that the Quetta-Karachi Highway would be completed by June 2010, but the work on it was still continued. (Courtesy: The Daily Times)

Republished in The Baloch Hal on May 14, 201

If every country in the world has a flag and a capital then why is it that the countries (allegedly) involved in Balochistan do not have a name? While sovereign states do have every reason to strictly check the involvement of foreign countries into their domestic matters, the citizens of the state, on the other hand, also have a genuine democratic right to check if their leaders are using ‘foreign hand’ as a mere pretext to avoid responsibility and accountability. In Balochistan’s context, the fresh statement by Chairman Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS)  Senator Raza Rabbani about the involvement of a “foreign hand” is absolutely outrageous. 

In his media talk, Mr. Rabbani, who is widely perceived as a more sober leader than Interior Minister Rehman Malik, blamed foreign elements responsible for the situation in Balochistan. As usual, he did not raise fingers at a certain country nor did he provide any evidence in support of his allegations. Considering the history of similar statements in the past, we believe Mr. Rabbani was referring to India and Afghanistan. One wonders what prevents the Pakistani government from publicizing the proof of foreign countries’ involvement in Balochistan. The only reason behind it is probably the absence and unavailability of such evidence.

Mr. Rabbani, who was the key architect  of the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package and the 18th Amendment, has also exhibited professional insincerity on the issue of the missing persons saying that the PCNS Committee had found out that many of the disappeared citizens had voluntarily gone abroad.  How did this happen? The immigration and border security authorities surely maintain a regular record of people’s entry and exit in and from Pakistan. Records of (missing) people who exited Pakistan to go overseas but still have their names registered as ‘disappeared persons’ should be brought to public. Rhetoric should replace reality. There must be more accuracy and transparency in the issue of the missing persons. To almost an annoying degree, the government has been harping about foreign countries interference in Balochistan and missing person’s presence overseas. It is the time to bring some evidence to public attention.

Likewise, Mr. Rabbani and his team will further mislead the Parliament and public opinion because of their own ignorance about the ground realities in Balochistan. For instance, one of the key findings in the PCNS meeting, according to the Daily Times, was that the Lashkar-e-Tayyba (LeT) was involved in sectarian killings in Balochistan. A very junior student of politics and security studies would even contest this ‘finding’. The LeT does not have sectarian ambitions but a clear history and objective of fighting for the rights of Kashmiries. The group operates not in Balochistan but inside India-administered Kashmir beyond in India.

Mr. Rabbani’s talk to the media after PCNS meeting indicates a total disconnect of the civilian government from the actual situation in Balochistan. The heads of the intelligence agencies and security forces are deliberately not educating the civilian leadership about the  actual situation prevailing in the province. This is further alarming how such important meetings are used as a venue to lump nationalistic and sectarian groups. Not that we endorse any groups right to employ violence for attaining political goals, what merits attention is the diversity of issues in Balochistan, key actors, their varied goals and connections with each other. As long as the government itself fails to acquire the basic knowledge of the key players, it will only mess up with the situation.

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 14, 2012

Mr. Rohrabacher’s engagement with Balochistan has gone a step further with his fresh letter to the Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano inquiring about a 2008 case when a Baloch activist Nooruddin Mengal, a British citizen, was denied entry inside the United States. Mr. Rorahacher has urged the Department of Homeland Security not to use American visas as a weapon against the Baloch.

“The people of Baluchistan are not the enemy of the US; they are our allies in the region,” said Rohrabacher. “We should not be throwing roadblocks against the enemies of our enemies by denying them entry in the United States.”

This is a significant issue which has been brought into the attention of the DHS. However, it needs to be put into right context. The DHS does not provide visas nor do the Balochs look at it as an hostile organization. There is only a need to understand and respect mutual needs. The DHS is a premier institution responsible for guarding the United States of American from all possible terrorist attacks. On the other hand, the Balochs are a secular and liberal people with no links whatsoever with Islamic fundamentalists.

They face horrible treatment inside Pakistan by the central government. Many of Baloch political leaders and activists have been killed, tortured and disappeared. The remaining Balochs are compelled to flee their country. Likewise, members of the Baloch diaspora, such as Mr. Nooruddin Mengal, are peaceful human rights activists who seek to highlight the plight of the Baloch people through democratic engagements such as conferences and seminars.

Instead of writing to the DHS, Mr. Rohrabacher should have actually written to President Barrack Obama urging his administration to change its  policy toward the Baloch. US consulates in Pakistan have been denying visas to peaceful Baloch political leaders, intellectuals and journalists presumably on the basis of misleading ‘background information’ provided by their anti-Baloch local staff members.

One such classic example is the American government’s decision to revoke the visa of former senator Sanaullah Baloch who was awarded the prestigious Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an organization that is funded by the US Congress. Obviously, NED does not offer fellowships to the enemies of America but to those who have a meritorious commitment to democracy and human rights in their respective countries.

The Obama administration should open the doors of America for Baloch asylum-seekers whose lives are in jeopardy inside Pakistan.  We expect the US government to assert more support for the Baloch who are in a critical need for help and rescue. Mr. Rohrabacher has rightly insisted that the Balochs are friends of America and they do not pose any kind of threats to American interests. In fact, they are a natural ally of Washington.

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 13, 2012

The Baloch Hal Monitoring Desk 

QUETTA:  Nawabzada Jamil Bugti, a son of slain Baloch sardar Nawab Akbar Bugti, has demanded an impartial probe into the recent discovery of a mass grave in Dera Bugti.
A pit has been unearthed containing the bullet-riddled remains of a number of people who were buried unceremoniously, Bugti told a news conference on Saturday.
He accused the security forces of killing scores of Baloch people in Dera Bugti and dumping their bodies in mass graves without burial rites.
“Human rights groups should be allowed access to the restive Dera Bugti area to probe the recently discovered mass grave,” he told the media.
“The federal and provincial governments are shielding the murderers of Nawab Akbar Bugti. The establishment does not acknowledge the supremacy of the judiciary. Where can we expect justice?” he asked.
Referring to the recent arrest of three Bugti tribesmen in the Lyari operation, Jamil Bugti said these men were whisked away by the Frontier Corps in January and were missing since then.
“The forces handed over these men to Karachi police who declared them terrorists and members of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA),” he said.

Denouncing the Lyari operation, he said that the Baloch people were victims of aggression and violence since 1947. (Courtesy: The Express Tribune) 

Reproduced in The Baloch Hal on May 13th, 2012.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Ifthakar Mohammad Chaudhary has professionally committed itself to the goal of resolving the issue of missing persons. It is perhaps the most consistent engagement of the Supreme Court since the first cases of missing persons were reported in Balochistan in early 2000s.

The Chief Justice started hard by taking to task the provincial police and then also summoning the provincial chief minister to answer for the actual state of disappeared people. However, some segments of the media, including this newspaper, and local civil society remained skeptical of the Judiciary’s commitment. It remained unclear whether the courts were deliberately bailing out the Frontier Corps and the intelligence because of powerlessness or their covert support from these almost-absolutely-immune state institutions. Eventually, the courts are moving more courageously than what had been expected of them until a few months ago.

Now, attention is focused on the Frontier Corps (FC) after the testimony of Hamid Shakil, Balochistan’s Deputy Inspector General, who informed the court that the police had video evidence of FC’s involvement in the cases of missing persons. The available evidence, as argued by the DIG, shows personnel of the FC taking away three missing persons from a Quetta hotel and driving them away in FC vans. A number of missing persons who were lucky enough to be released in the past have confirmed FC’s involvement in such cases. According to their firsthand accounts, the FC whisks people away and then hands them over to intelligence agencies for illegal detention and exhaustive investigations. While in custody, the victims  say, they undergo brutal torture and maltreatment.

As expected, the Inspector General of the Frontier Corps (FC) did not appear before the court to defend his Corps. An FC representative present in the courot cited ‘busy engagements’ as the reason for the IG’s absence in the hearing. The Chief Justice, who expressed absolute displeasure on the absence of the IG,  validly argued that there was no issue more important than that of the missing persons which should keep the IG FC busy or distracted.

The judiciary deserves its share of applause for intervening in this critical issue and also making some progress. According to the Urdu Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), as many as 18 missing persons have returned home after the judiciary came hard on the elements responsible for the disappearance of civilians. This is a very heartening development. The judiciary must keep pushing hard for more similarly positive results. No one, including the Frontier Corps, and other intelligence agencies related to the Pakistani army, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence (MI), should be allowed to go away with charges leveled against them.

We sincerely hope that the judiciary would not spare anyone responsible for human rights abuses in Balochistan. The Supreme Court hearing on May 14, when the IG FC has been asked to appear, is very critical and significant. The IG should be asked tough questions. The process initiated by the Supreme Court should gradually be taken to its logical conclusion: Release of all disappeared persons and exposure of elements responsible for extrajudicial operations.

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 13, 2012

The Baloch Hal News

ISLAMABAD: The Balochistan Police has informed the Supreme Court of Pakistan that it has “substantial evidence” of the Frontier Corp’s (FC) involvement in extrajudicial arrests and disappearances in Balochistan, an issue which the local police are absolutely powerless to grapple with considering the enormous powers the FC enjoys in Balochistan.

Mr. Hamid Shakil, the Deputy Inspector General of the Balochistan Police, informed the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday that the Police had attained video evidence from the close-circuit cameras of a local hotel in Quetta showing FC personnel illegally whisking away three missing Baloch persons. They were picked up from the hotel, put into an FC vehicle and taken to an unknown location, the top police officer informed the apex court.

“We are absolutely powerless in front of the Frontier Corps,” admitted the DIG , whose remarks were further endorsed by Balochistan’s Advocate General Amanullah Kanrani who informed that court that the FC did not follow the instructions of the Balochistan government.

“The FC only listens to the federal government,” he informed the court, “because they are controlled by the central government.”

Major General Ubaidullah Khan, the non-local Inspector General of the Frontier Corps,  did not appear before the court although he had been asked to provide an explanation for charges about the involvement of the powerful force that he heads in the restive province.

Earlier, cases were registered against two FC majors in connection to the cases of illegal disappearances.

The Chief Justice recalled that the IG FC had assured the court in a previous hearing of his appearance in the future hearings but he did not fulfill his promise which irked the  country’s senior most judge.

“No one should live under any illusion,” warned the Chief Justice Ifthakar Mohammad Chaudhary while referring to the IG FC, “the Supreme Court knows how to implement its orders.”

Major Sohail, a representative of the FC, told the Court that the IG could not appear in the hearing due to “some other important engagements”. The Chief Justice did not entertain his excuse and said the disappearance of citizens was a “more pressing issue” than any other matter which had caught the IG FC busy. He ordered the IG FC and the provincial chief of the police to appear before the court on May 14th.

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 11, 2012