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PAKISTAN: A young man is shot dead by police at a wedding party

June 3, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-053-2009



3 June 2009

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PAKISTAN: A young man is shot dead by police at a wedding party

ISSUES: Extrajudicial killing; impunity; rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received reports that a young unarmed man was shot dead during his cousin’s wedding party by a police officer in Panjgore district, Balochistan province last month. The Assistant Sub Inspector accused of the shooting has defended his own authority regarding who he does and does not choose to shoot. Despite protests, no case against him has been lodged by police.

CASE DETAILS: (According to the victim’s relatives and lawyer)

At around noon on May 31, 2009, police chased a car of armed men into a village, where the men disbanded after a shoot out. The village was Mohalla Gharibabad, UC Chitkan, Panjgore, and a wedding party was taking place nearby. At the first sign of shooting the wedding guests took shelter in nearby houses. Spectators have noted that though the armed men ran off in the opposite direction, police continued to shoot in the area.

According to our reports, after some time a number of older guests came out of hiding and asked the leading officer, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), Mohammad Ismail, to stop shooting in the air; since the men had appeared to have left. Then Mr. Noor Amad Baloch, 32, a cousin of the groom’s also came out to ask what was happening. He noted that there were children around and asked the officers to stop firing. According to eye witnesses ASI Ismail responded by shooting him in the head from around 25 metres away. Noor Amad Baloch was taken to hospital at Panjgore city where he was pronounced dead.
Villagers started to protest outside Panjore hospital, and were told by officials that a case would be lodged against the officer. However nothing was done. When civilians and a number of lawyers gathered to complain at Panjore police station later that day the ASI was defiant. He allegedly announced that his pursuit of criminals should not be interfered with in any way and that his judgment should not be questioned. He also allegedly made threats against anyone who filed against him. No case has yet been lodged. Local residents believe that he was responsible for another unnecessary shooting in the same area three months ago.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

In poor, remote areas like this one, impunity is a continuing problem. The rule of law here is not strong, and due process is not followed; police officers may generally act as they wish without fear of punishment. Because of this the line has blurred between law enforcement and vigilante acts of violence. Civilians also tend to take matters into their own hands due to a lack of faith in the system.

Balochistan has hosted various strong military operations since 2001 to control a resistance movement for greater autonomy. This fight against ‘terrorism’ is often used to justify killings, beatings and abductions that take place outside of the law, and while more than 3000 persons have been reported killed in the fighting, according to our reports a further 4000 missing persons remain unaccounted for. The general situation, and other incidents of impunity by the authorities, are laid out in a statement made at the tenth session of the Human Rights Council by the AHRC’s sister organisation, the Asian Legal Resources Centre: ALRC-CWS-10-15-2009.

As the law enforcement system continues to break down, displays of violence by the police are becoming increasingly erratic. This is the second time in four months that a wedding party has been attacked in the province by officials; in February 13 people were killed. AHRC-STM-026-2009 

It should be noted that sections 300, 301 and 302 of the Pakistan Penal code have provisions for qatl-e-amd (intentional murder). Those charged with this can be punished with death or imprisonment for up to 25 years.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the authorities demanding that they initiate a probe into the killing of Noor Amad Baloch by a policeman, and prosecute those responsible. An investigation into the breakdown of the law enforcement systems in Balochistan must be swiftly instigated before more lives are needlessly lost.

The Asian Human Rights Commission has already written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions urging his intervention into this case.

To support this appeal please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear _________,

PAKISTAN: A young man is shot dead by police at a wedding party

Dear [salutation],

Name of victim: Mr. Noor Ahmad, 32
Resident of Ghareebabad Mohalla, Union council Chitkan, Panjgore, Balochistan, PAKISTAN
Name of perpetrators: Mr. Mohammad Ismail, Assistant Sub-Inspector and three other police constables of Panjgore Police Station
Panjgore city, Balochistan, PAKISTAN
Place of incident: Mohalla Gharibabad, UC Chitkan, Panjgore,
Date of incident: May 31, 2009

I’m writing to share my shock and concern at the random shooting of a wedding party guest by a police officer in Panjgore, Balochistan, and the resistance of the local government to lodging a complaint against the officer.

According to information I have received, a young unarmed man was shot through the head after he asked officers to stop firing around children. Protests by the man’s neighbours and efforts to lodge a murder case against Mohammad Ismail have been ignored. He allegedly announced in front of the complainants, that his pursuit of criminals should not be interfered with in any way, and that his judgment should not be questioned. He also allegedly made threats against anyone who filed against him.

In poor, remote areas like this one, impunity is a continuing problem. The rule of law here is not strong, and due process is not followed; police officers act as they wish without fear of punishment. Because of this the line has blurred between law enforcement and vigilante acts of violence. Civilians also tend to take matters into their own hands, due to a lack of faith in the system.

This fight against terrorism in Balochistan is often used to justify killings, beatings and abductions that take place outside of the law, and as the law enforcement system continues to break down, displays of violence by the police are becoming increasingly erratic. This is the second time in four months that a wedding party has been attacked in the province by officials; in February 13 people were killed.

Sections 300, 301 and 302 of the Pakistan Penal code have provisions for qatl-e-amd (intentional murder), and those charged with this can be punished with death or imprisonment for up to 25 years. No one can have impunity from these penalties according to the constitution of Pakistan. It is regrettable that a government who claims to have been elected by the people in a free and fair election, denies them justice by allowing policemen to murder civilians at random and escape punishment.

I hope that you will take strong action against this extra judicial killing by conducting a thorough and immediate enquiry into the incident, punishing the perpetrators according to the law, and providing the victim’s relatives with redress and compensation due them under the constitution of your country.

Yours sincerely,
[fullname]
[country]

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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 following 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. Mr. A Rehman Malik
Minister for Interior
R Block Pak Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 51 9212026
Fax: +92 51 9202624
E-mail: ministry.interior@gmail.com or interior.complaintcell@gmail.com

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-053-2009
Countries :
Issues :
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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.