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PAKISTAN: Three political activists are found murdered after daylight abduction

April 9, 2009

[NOTICE: The AHRC has developed this automatic letter-sending system using the "button" below. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to them. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Pakistan authorities are attached below with this appeal. Thank you.]

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-041-2009



9 April 2009
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PAKISTAN: Three political activists are found murdered after daylight abduction

ISSUES: Extrajudicial killing; rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the bodies of three prominent political activists of Balochistan province have been found partially decomposed in vats of chemicals. The men had been missing since 3 April, when they were abducted from their lawyer’s office by a group of armed men in civilian clothing.

CASE DETAILS:

According to those dealing with the case, Mr. Ghulam Mohammad, 45, Chairman of the Baloch National Movement, Mr. Sher Mohammad Baloch, 35, Vice President of Balochistan Republican Party and Mr. Lala Munir Baloch, 50, General Secretary of Baloch National Front, had attended a Session Court in Turbat district, Balochistan province on 3 April to arrange interim bail, relating to charges in shooting and bomblast cases last year. After being granted bail the men were accompanied by their lawyer, Mr. Kachkol Ali to his chamber at around noon. Ali is a former opposition leader in the Balochistan assembly. According to the lawyer, more than a dozen persons in civilian dress then entered the office, ransacked it and abducted the men, driving away in four vehicles which bore no registration numbers. The attackers refused to identify themselves, or to tell Ali where his clients were being taken.

Ali immediately filed an application at the Turbat Police Station accusing military intelligence (M.I.) and Inter services Intelligence (I.S.I) persons of the abduction. The application mentioned his fear that the men would be tortured and killed by the military. However police refused to file a first information report (FIR), the basic document for police investigation; they said that they would consult their superiors in the police force.

Kachkol Ali then filed an application of Habeas Corpus for the three activists under section 491 CRPC. However the Judge of the Turbat session court, Mr. Pazeer Ahmed Baloch, refused to accept it, claiming it did not come under his jurisdiction, and told them to file in the Balochistan High Court. The lawyers, which included Mr. Fida Hussain, the president of Turbat Bar Association, then sent an application for sou moto action to Mr Iftekhar Choudhry, the chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court. According to sources, Chief Justice Balochistan Sanaullah Yaseen of the Balochistan High Court has just taken the case, suo moto.

According to the lawyers, the three men’s bodies were found five days later on 8 April in Pidrak, 35 km from the place of arrest. They were almost unrecognizable due to the chemically-aided decomposition, but medical officers have concluded that the men were killed on the day of their arrest, and possibly thrown from a high place, such as a helicopter.

Civilians in Balochistan have tried to protest again the murders and are reportedly being pressured to stay inside by law enforcement agencies. Some gun shots and blasts have been reported.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The Pakistan military has been conducting operations in Balochistan province since 2001, where a strong movement seeking greater autonomy has taken root. Many Balochis feel that they are not adequately represented in the country’s political centres, that they receive little financial support and that their rights are consistently violated. Around 3,000 people are estimated to have died in military and paramilitary operations and ‘disappearances’ and many others remain missing.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the persons listed below to call for a thorough, speedy investigation into the abduction and murder of these three men, and the lapses in the complaint-receiving mechanism in Turbat police station that hampered their rescue. A public investigation should be launched into the illegal activities of military and paramilitary forces in the area.

Please be informed that the AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions calling for intervention in this case.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear _________,

PAKISTAN: Three political activists are found murdered after daylight abduction

Name of victims:
1. Mr. Ghulam Mohammad, 45, Chairman of the Baloch National Movement
2. Mr. Sher Mohammad Baloch, 35, Vice President of Balochistan Republican Party
3. Mr. Lala Munir Baloch, 50, General Secretary of the Baloch National Front
Date of Incident: 3 April, 2009

I am shocked and disturbed to hear of the abduction and murder of three political activists in Balochistan, allegedly by military or paramilitary forces. I am also concerned at the way the efforts of the men’s lawyers and friends were hampered by police and the judiciary, and by the lack of effort made to rescue of the men. I hear that the local police force is currently illegally pressuring Baloch civilians not to protest the murders in public.

According to those dealing with the case, Mr. Ghulam Mohammad, 45, Chairman of the Baloch National Movement, Mr. Sher Mohammad Baloch, 35, Vice President of Balochistan Republican Party and Mr. Lala Munir Baloch, 50, General Secretary of Baloch National Front, had attended a Session Court in Turbat district, Balochistan province on 3 April to arrange interim bail, relating to charges in shooting and bomblast cases last year. After being granted bail the men were accompanied by their lawyer, Mr. Kachkol Ali to his chamber at around noon. Ali is a former opposition leader in the Balochistan assembly. According to the lawyer, more than a dozen persons in civilian dress then entered the office, ransacked it and abducted the men, driving away in four vehicles which bore no registration numbers. The attackers refused to identify themselves, or to tell Ali where his clients were being taken.

Ali immediately filed an application at the Turbat Police Station accusing military intelligence (M.I.) and Inter services Intelligence (I.S.I) persons of the abduction. The application mentioned his fear that the men would be tortured and killed by the military. However police refused to file a first information report (FIR), the basic document for police investigation; they said that they would consult their superiors in the police force.

Kachkol Ali then filed an application of Habeas Corpus for the three activists under section 491 CRPC. However the Judge of the Turbat session court, Mr. Pazeer Ahmed Baloch, refused to accept it, claiming it did not come under his jurisdiction, and told them to file in the Balochistan High Court. The lawyers, which included Mr. Fida Hussain, the president of Turbat Bar Association, then sent an application for Sou Moto to Mr Iftekhar Choudhry, the chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court.

According to the lawyers, the three men’s bodies were found five days later on 8 April in Pidrak, 35 km from the place of arrest. They were almost unrecognizable due to the chemically-aided decomposition, but medical officers have concluded that the men were killed on the day of their arrest, and possibly thrown from a high place, such as a helicopter.

According to sources Chief Justice Balochistan Sanaullah Yaseen of the Balochistan High Court has just taken the case, suo moto. I call on you to support this motion by launching an immediate investigation into the murder of these three men, and the violation of their rights to life, to arbitrary detention and to free speech. The failure of the men’s lawyers and friend’s to solicit help from the police or the legal system shows a malfunction in the complaint-receiving mechanism in Turbat district, Balochistan province, which must be immediately addressed. The difficulties experienced by the lawyers, and the political activism of the victims also points to a government-sponsored abduction and murder, which must be given serious attention. In order to safeguard the political freedom and right to safety of those in Balochistan, the collusion between the police and illegal operations by military agencies in Balochistan warrants very close and public scrutiny.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Asif Ali Zardari
President
President's Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 922 1422, 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835
E-mail: (please see and post your appeal in the website - http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx)

2. Mr. Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani
Prime minister of Pakistan
Prime Minister House, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9221596
E-mail: webmaster@infopak.gov.pk

3. Federal Minister of Law
Justice and Human Rights
S Block, Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 920 2628
E-mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk

4. Nawab Aslam Raisani
Chief Minister of Balochistan
Chief Minister House, Quette,
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 81 920 2240
Tel: +92 81 449582 / 440661
E-mail: mirlashkari@yahoo.com

5. Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi
Governor of Balochistan
Governor House Balochistan,
Quetta- Balochistan province,
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 81 920 2992

6. Chief Secretary
Government of Balochistan
Quetta, Balochistan province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 81 9202132

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-041-2009
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.