PAKISTAN: A Norwegian citizen and Baloch activist is missing after his suspected abduction by Pakistan state agents

Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a Norwegian citizen and political activist of Iranian nationality has been forcefully abducted from a bus between Balochistan province and the Sindh province capital, Karachi. Eyewitnesses described his abductors as armed, plain-clothed and in a fleet of four-wheel jeeps bearing no registration number, but the nature of his activism and the manner of his abduction points to state involvement. The Norweigian Embassy in Pakistan has contacted the Foreign Ministry in Pakistan about the case, however the man’s whereabouts are unknown and his family worry that if Military Intelligence and the Frontier Constabulary are involved, he will be subjected to torture. 

CASE DETAILS: 

Ehsan Arjumandi is an Iranian political activist and holds Norwegian citizenship. He was a translator for the Foreign Ministry of Norway police department until recently, but also engaged in social activism with the NGO, Baloch Anjuman Norway, which lobbied for the right to autonomy for the people of Balochistan.

After arriving in Pakistan for the first time in twenty years to see relatives (in Balochistan province, Turbat and Mand) Arjumandi was on an intercity Aslam Dandahi Coach on August 7 to Karachi, when up to twenty vehicles intercepted the bus on the Zero Point Coastal Highway near the Uthal check post, about 12km from Uthal city. According to eyewitnesses, a group of armed men boarded the bus, covered his head with a black blanket and took him away in unmarked jeeps. 

In interviews with media, Arjumandi’s relatives have noted the similarities of the large organized operation with other abductions known to have been carried out by Military Intelligence agents. They also say that he has heart problems and suffers from asthma and several other ailments. Before his abduction he needed daily medication, and he left his long-term job with the Ministry for health reasons. If he is in detention, his relatives fear that he will not be given the treatment he needs. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

In a joint effort to thwart the movement for autonomy by Balochs in Iran and Pakistan, the two governments have increased their cooperation in recent decades, extraditing a number of Baloch political and human rights activists between them. The Asian Human Rights Commission and the Norway-based Baloch Human Rights Committee (BHRC) are concerned that the activist may have become the latest of these. 

Mr Arjumandi was born in Western Balochistan, Iran, but has been living in Norway since 1989, where he has long campaigned for the rights of Baloch people, an oppressed minority in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

Arjumandi was one of the protesters who staged agitation concerning military action in Balochistan during General Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Norway. He also participated in a rally when Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited Norway, protesting about the continuous disappearances taking place in the province. 

It is not uncommon for detained Baloch activists to be held in illegal custody for long periods of time without access to family members or legal assistance. The Netherlands-based Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), quoting the Baloch Peoples Party, claims that 19 Baloch prisoners have been executed since June 2009 when presidential election, after brief trials in closed-door court rooms, during which they had no access to defense lawyers. Iranian news agencies report more than 10 Balochis have been given to Iran by Pakistan in the last twelve months, and that four of them were hanged recently in a prison in Zahedan. 

The Asian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned about the lack of transparency involved in many of these operations and the apparent lack of legal procedure being observed as a result. As a new signatory of the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture, Pakistan has a responsibility to those within its borders. It should not agree to expedite a person to a country in which it believes his or her rights will be violated under international law, including the right to a fair trial. 

The AHRC is also extremely concerned at the manner in which Arjumandi is alleged to have been arrested, should he indeed be in the custody of the Pakistan military and notes that this method of arrest is not uncommon in Balochistan. It calls for the protection and activation of the victim’s rights to a lawyer, access to his family and necessary medical treatment and protection from torture, in particular. 

SUGGESTED ACTION: 

Please write to the authorities in Pakistan to urge the launch of an immediate inquiry into the disappearance of Ehsan Arjumandi, and an operation to retrieve him safely and return him to his home in Norway. 

Please be informed that the AHRC is writing a letter to the UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders and the question of torture, and the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, requesting their intervention in this case.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER