Mamma Ghandi . great mamma qadeer baloch.

 

 

Families of missing Baloch march for justice .

Relatives of people who have been disappeared or killed in Pakistan march more than 2,000km seeking UN intervention.

Mundera, Pakistan - Qadeer Rekhi is a long way from home.

More than 2,150 kilometres away, in fact - that's how much ground he and a small group of others, mostly women and children, have covered by foot since they began their long march on October 27 from Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province. They are due to finish their journey on Friday with their arrival in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

Rekhi, known almost ubiquitously as "Mama" (Urdu for "uncle"), and his 15 fellow marchers are protesting the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of their family members in Balochistan, a province where Pakistani security forces have been battling an armed Baloch separatist movement since 2005.

Rekhi's son, Jalil, was the information secretary of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP), a separatist political party with strong ties to the armed struggle for Baloch independence. He was abducted from his home in Quetta in February 2009. For two years, Mama was unable to get the authorities to provide any information on his son, until November 23, 2011, when he got a phone call telling him that his son's body had been found in Mand, near the Iranian border, almost 750 kilometres away from where he was abducted.

"His body was badly injured - there were three gunshot wounds, to his chest and head - and he had also been tortured. There were bruises all over his body. His hand was broken, and one of his eyes was badly wounded. His back had been burned with cigarettes. There was still fresh blood on him when we received the body," said the 72-year-old, clad in traditional Baloch dress as he walked through the town of Mundera on the 104th day of the group's march.

Rekhi's case is just one of more than 1,000 documented by the Voice of Missing Baloch (VBMP), a rights organisation that has collated information on Baloch missing persons and fights their families' cases in court since 2009. According to the group, there have been more than 2,825 documented cases of enforced disappearances of Baloch activists since 2005.

And the bodies keep appearing: On January 18, 13 highly decomposed bodies were found in the Tootak area of Balochistan's Khuzdar district. And on January 31, Nasrullah Baloch, the VBMP's chairperson, brought the authorities' attention to another mass grave in Khuzdar that was said to contain more than 100 bodies - some identified as belonging to Baloch pro-independence activists.

'Propagandistic claims'

The Pakistani government denies that it is responsible for the deaths or the disappearances, and has established a judicial commission to investigate reports of those who have gone missing.

"This is a completely incorrect and propagandistic claim, that there are more than 2,000 people missing," said a senior official in the provincial home department, speaking on condition of anonymity, when asked about the figures. The official, who deals directly with missing persons' cases, said that, according to the government and Supreme Court, there were currently only 27 active cases regarding alleged enforced disappearances by the state.

"No state agency is involved - either federal or provincial - in this matter," the official said.

The Commission of Inquiry, meanwhile, a separate judicial body, said it is dealing with 1,475 reported cases of enforced disappearances from all over the country.

Zohra Yusuf, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, says the issue of disappearances is "a core rights issue" and that the situation is "very serious".

"The issue of missing people is one that despite the attention that the marchers are trying to get, there are continuing cases of disappearances. The Supreme Court itself has not made much headway in getting people back to their homes - there have been some cases where people have come back - but the number of disappeared is still very high," she told Al Jazeera, while lauding the efforts of Rekhi and his fellow protesters. "I think it's a historic march in the context of Pakistan, because I don't think anyone has undertaken this form of peaceful protest before, although they have received threats along the way."

Those threats have been ever-present, according to those marching, and have ranged from daily threatening phone calls to police barricades being set up to prevent the group from marching further; from intimidating security cordons being set up around their nightly encampments to unidentified men cursing at them along their route.

At one point, in the city of Multan, policemen threatened the marchers with force if they did not turn back. "As we were passing by Cantt, we were stopped, and guns were pointed at us - at the women and children, too. We were told be silent. We were very angry. This is shameful, raising a gun at women - how can you then talk about honour? You are disgraceful!"

'You do not want us'

Farzana Majeed, 28, is one of those women. Her brother, Zakir, was a student activist for the Baloch Students Organisation (Azad), a pro-independence Baloch student group, and was abducted while en route to a friend's house in rural Balochistan.

The core group of 16 marchers have been joined by others along their route - sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for days [Asad Hashim/Al Jazeera]

That was on June 8, 2009. He remains missing to this day, almost five years later.

"For five years, I have been out on the streets continuously - sometimes outside the Karachi Press Club, sometimes outside Quetta Press Club, sometimes outside the Islamabad Press Club. And now this lengthy, difficult long march from Quetta to Islamabad. But I don't know why the state here does not understand," said Majeed's sister.

"Does the state think that the Baloch insurgency, the freedom struggle - if my brother was a student leader for that, or the other Baloch are activists or leaders - that they can then just pick them and take them away like this, keep them locked up for years?"

Majeed abandoned her pursuit of a masters degree in biochemistry in 2009 to advocate for her brother's cause. She says that if her brother, and others, are accused of waging an armed campaign against the state, then they should be produced by the state in court and charged with that offence.

"But for the last five years, you have not brought anyone to court. So this means that [the state] does not want to do anything. So this means that you do not want us to be with you. It is completely obvious."

Joining Majeed and Rekhi in their march are 14 others - eight women, three men and three children, including Beauragh Baloch, Jalil Rekhi's eight-year-old son, who suffers from a congenital heart condition and says he "hates the Pakistani army and ISI" for allegedly abducting his father.

The marchers occasionally raise slogans against the government, or in favour of Baloch rights, but often simply march in silence. As they make their way through Pakistan, they have picked up more marchers and protesters along the way. Some accompanied them for only a few minutes; others joined them for days.

'The Baloch want freedom'

Mir Muhammad Ali Talpur, originally from the town of Hyderabad, in Sindh, marched with the protesters for 20 days, in two stints.

"Mine is a deep, spiritual involvement in the Baloch national struggle. Now the Baloch want freedom. It's not about this demand or that demand... it's now about freedom, the Baloch are fighting for freedom," said the 68-year-old former fighter with the armed Baloch separatist movement. Talpur lost his hands in the struggle in 1973, during the first armed battle against the state. "An occupational hazard," he said of his maimed hands, which were injured while he was preparing explosives.

Balochistan has seen three localised uprisings against the state - in 1948, 1958 and 1963 - with broader armed movements taking place from 1973-77 and from 2005, after the killing of tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. That fight continues, with armed Baloch groups claiming responsibility for attacks on security forces and government targets that killed at least 274 civilians.

"Now the political and social ethos is defined by the sarmachars and those who are fighting - these two aresarmachars, those who are walking," he said, using the Balochi word for an activist who fights for one's rights regardless of danger.

A message of defiance

For Talpur, who said many of his own fellow fighters have either gone missing or been found dead in the last five years, the marchers' protest is less about expectation for bringing about change, and more about sending a message of defiance.

"It is about taking the battle to the enemy. And now you just imagine, millions of people… who didn't know about this, know, because they have seen these people, seen us walking. Millions of people know, everybody that the long march people have come in touch with, there is certainly a definitive change. And you know, that is another thing: This is a message of defiance, defiance of the establishment. [And] defiance is contagious. This is what the establishment is afraid of."

Mir Muhammad Ali Talpur is a former fighter with the armed Baloch independence movement [Asad Hashim/Al Jazeera]

The message has certainly resonated in parts of the country. In towns and cities in Sindh, where a long-running separatist movement has recently been gaining steam, and southern Punjab, the marchers were given rousing welcomes by crowds ranging from dozens to hundreds of people. Rekhi and his group have stayed throughout their 104-day journey with friends and well-wishers - being unable to afford staying in hotels, and worried about their own security.

It was in central and northern Punjab, long considered the heartland of Pakistan's establishment - a term used to describe the military, intelligence services and the state apparatus - that the welcome has been less forthcoming.

Nevertheless, the marchers march on. With just 40 kilometres to go to Islamabad, the federal capital, they are preparing to meet with representatives of the UN Human Rights Council and foreign diplomats, they said.

"We are not going to the rulers, we are going to the United Nations only. We will go to the UN office and do a sit-in there. If we had any hope from the rulers, then we would not have to do this long march," said Muhammad Zahid, 18, a Baloch student from Dera Ghazi Khan.

It's a sentiment echoed by all those marching - and by none more so than Farzana Majeed.

"Look, the Pakistani parliament, or the Pakistani government, or the military - if they wanted to do something, they would have done it in these last five years. In the last five years, they would have heard my voice. I have been ignored all this time - now what do they want, that I should spend another five years on these streets? Enough is enough. We want our rights."

Follow Asad Hashim on Twitter: @AsadHashim
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/02/families-missing-baloch-march-justice-2014227101949360898.html

Families of missing Baloch march for justice.

Be alert Baloch : Iranian Revolutionary Guards terrorists occupying regime in Iran have bad aim Sapah Pasdaran Iranian Revolutionary Guards crossed into Pakistani territory are going to feature

Be alert Baloch : Iranian Revolutionary Guards terrorists occupying regime in Iran have bad aim

Sapah Pasdaran Iranian Revolutionary Guards crossed into Pakistani territory are going to feature

Sunday, Persian date Bahman 27 1392

According to the representative , with the approval of the Security Agreement between Iran and Pakistan, the legal basis for the destruction of Iran's armed forces " terrorists " to Pakistan .

The authorities of the Islamic Republic of .

the country has come, our security forces will soon return to the country 's border .

He also said the approval of a security agreement between Pakistan and Iran , as Iranian armed forces of Pakistan are legal to destroy the terrorists .

Ali Amiri , a spokesman for the Interior Ministry has said : " The security forces - Disciplinary actions are underway that we can inform them right now . "

Iran's Foreign Ministry , last Sunday Noor Mohammad Jdmany , summoned the Pakistani ambassador to protest the Islamic Republic has been communicated to him .

What is the zero point of the border guards, some come and steal us , we will pursue the matter through diplomacy .

The unit is also affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards ground forces , known as the " sipah pasdaran " to deal with the group Jaish-e -Adl was dispatched to the area . Sipah pasdar  special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed " the world's most elite special units " are considered .

Relatives of missing Baloch march through city.

LAHORE: NGOs, human rights organisations and civil society welcomed the long march by relatives of missing Baloch at the city’s Thokar Niaz Baig area on Thursday.

A number of civil society representatives and human rights activists then joined the long march and moved towards The Mall through Canal Road. The march reached Diyal Singh College where civil society and Baloch leadership spoke about the issues of missing Baloch. The rally then reached Lahore’s Timber Market.
Participants were holding banners and placards in support of missing Baloch. 
The protesters also demanded that the government grant them justice and find missing persons.
Families of the missing Baloch had started the long march on October 24, 2013, led by Mama Qadeer Baloch, vice president of an advocacy group – Voice of Missing Baloch Persons.
The march was the idea of former banker Mama Qadeer Baloch. Some 20-25 women heard his call and joined the walk, some with children in their arms, their feet clad in cheap plastic sandals ravaged by the hard road and photos of their family members in their hands.
Earlier on Wednesday, more than two dozen relatives of missing Baloch arrived in the city, as part of their long march from Quetta to Karachi.
Bushra Khaliq, executive director of an NGO namely VOICE, told Daily Times that relatives of the missing Baloch hope to gain public support and pressure the government into freeing their loved ones who have disappeared. After recording their protest in Lahore, participants of the rally would now move to Islamabad.
The Supreme Court has also been investigating the cases, and has issued warnings to the government to recover these people.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/punjab/14-Feb-2014/relatives-of-missing-baloch-march-through-city 

DOCUMENT - PAKISTAN: MASS GRAVES A STARK REMINDER OF VIOLATIONS IMPLICATING THE STATE IN BALOCHISTAN.

DOCUMENT - PAKISTAN: MASS GRAVES A STARK REMINDER OF VIOLATIONS IMPLICATING THE STATE IN BALOCHISTAN

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC STATEMENT

AI Index: ASA 33/001/2014

5 February 2014

Pakistan: Mass graves a stark reminder of violations implicating the state in Balochistan

Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to ensure an independent and impartial investigation into the unmarked graves found in Totak, near Khuzdar in Balochistan province on 25 January and the alleged abduction and extra judicial execution of a child by state security forces two weeks earlier. Urgent action must also be taken to protect “Long March” activists who have received death threats for highlighting the human rights situation in Balochistan and investigate the source of these threats.

The Deputy Commissioner of Khuzdar district says 13 bodies were found in unmarked graves in Totak. Amnesty International is concerned that there may be more graves in the area that the authorities are not disclosing. Balochistan is one of the most violent parts of Pakistan with scores of activists, journalists and suspected armed group members falling victim to abductions, enforced disappearances and extra judicial executions across the province, including in Khuzdar. Some victims have later been found dumped at the roadside on the outskirts of the city of Karachi.

The Balochistan government has established a Tribunal Inquiry with the powers of a civil court headed by a judge of the Balochistan High Court and a special Medical Board to investigate the graves. Investigations to identify the bodies should be carried out by forensic experts in line with the UN Model Protocol on the disinterment and analysis of skeletal remains. In addition to the medical investigation, a credible criminal investigation must be carried out and any persons suspected of committing human rights abuses must be brought to justice in a fair trial and without recourse to the death penalty, regardless of their links to state or non-state groups.

The Tribunal, Medical Board and any other investigators must be allowed to independently and impartially investigate all graves, including the reported 13, without interference from state security forces. The authorities must ensure that persons who suspect that the bodies may include their relatives are allowed to inspect the bodies to enable identification.

Following initial investigations by a local law enforcement force known as Levies, two bodies were found in Totak on the first day, followed by 11 bodies after that. Two of the dead have now been identified by relatives as Qadir Bakhsh and Naseer - both from Pirandar in Awaran district. Relatives claim both men were forcibly disappeared by the Frontier Corps, a state security force, on 30 August and 4th October 2013 respectively.

The Frontier Corps and other state security forces have been widely implicated in enforced disappearances, extra-judicial executions and other human rights violations in the province for several years. In December 2013 Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch acknowledged that state “agencies” were responsible for “illegal confinement” of Baloch activists, including, he believed, the Secretary-General of his own Balochistan National Party, which is currently part of Balochistan’s coalition government. Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the highest judiciary in the country, including recently retired Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, have also accused the Frontier Corps of being responsible for many enforced disappearances in the province.

The Frontier Corps reportedly cordoned off the area surrounding the graves soon after their discovery, preventing civil society and the local community from monitoring activity at the grave sites. The Frontier Corps has also reportedly prevented some relatives of enforced disappearance victims from visiting a local hospital to inspect the recovered bodies to see if they could identify their missing relatives.

As far as Amnesty International is aware, no Frontier Corps or other security and intelligence service personnel have been brought to justice for their involvement in enforced disappearances or other human rights violations in Balochistan. The authorities also have a very poor record in bringing non-state suspects to justice, with criminal gangs and armed groups, some hostile to the state or engaged in hostilities in neighbouring Afghanistan, others targeting those considered anti-state or the minority Shi’a Muslim population, operating with virtual impunity.

The Tribunal Inquiry established by the Balochistan government must thoroughly investigate all individuals and groups against whom there is credible evidence of responsibility for the Khuzdar graves. The authorities must ensure that any individuals suspected of committing human rights abuses are brought to justice in fair trials and without recourse to the death penalty regardless of their affiliations, rank or status. They must also immediately secure the grave sites to prevent loss or interference with the evidence.

Alleged extra-judicial execution of 10 year old Chakar Baloch

Amnesty International is alarmed by credible allegations of the extra-judicial execution of 10 year old Chakar Baloch in Turbat, Balochistan. Around 5pm on 7 January, Chakar Baloch was walking to Awaran market when, according to eyewitnesses, four plain-clothed men accompanied by four uniformed personnel from the Frontier Corps picked him up. Chakar Baloch’s family registered a complaint about the abduction with local police in Turbat. However apart from registering the complaint, the police did not appear to take any further steps and, in practice, they have virtually no power to investigate allegations against the Frontier Corps. Three days later, on 10 January, Chakar Baloch’s body was recovered from Kech Kaor River, a kilometre from where he was last seen alive. According to a medical examination carried out at District Headquarters Hospital in Turbat, Chakar Baloch’s body bore what appeared to be torture marks and four bullet wounds to the head, chest and left arm due to gunshots at close range.

Since the recovery of Chakar Baloch’s body, his family has continued to receive death threats over the phone and has had to leave Turbat for an undisclosed location. A number of Chakar’s relatives are active members of the Balochistan National Movement, a political group that advocates separation of the province from Pakistan. Chakar Baloch's family fled their home in Parom Panjgoor to Turbat in December 2013 after receiving threats from unknown men who relatives claim are members of state intelligence services. According to information received by Amnesty International, other relatives of Chakar Baloch have also previously been subjected to violations. Chakar Baloch’s great-grand uncle Rahim Baksh, around 80-years-old, and cousin Jaffar Majeed, 16-years-old, were picked up by the Frontier Corps during a raid on their Parom Panjgoor home on 10 October 2013. Both were released around 15 October. Another of Chakar’s cousins, Sannaullah Majeed, 14 years old, was picked up by the Frontier Corps during another raid on the house on 16 October and remains missing to this day. Relatives claim that men in plain clothes belonging to state intelligence services accompanied the Frontier Corps on both occasions.

Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to ensure an immediate, independent and impartial investigation into the apparent extra-judicial execution of Chakar Baloch, and the abduction and arbitrary detention of Rahim Baksh, Jaffar Majeed and Sanaullah Majeed. Where there is sufficient admissible evidence, suspects should be brought to justice in fair trials, without recourse to the death penalty. The authorities must ensure their investigations include the Frontier Corps and intelligence services operating in the area.

Threats to relatives taking part in Long March to Islamabad

Relatives of people subjected to enforced disappearance are currently undertaking a “Long March” from Quetta to Islamabad via Karachi, protesting these violations and calling on the authorities to reveal the fate or whereabouts of their loved ones. Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to take measures to ensure the protection of the protestors, particularly following credible claims by participants of threats received from unknown persons over the phone. The authorities must also carry out credible investigations to determine who is behind the threats, ensuring that suspects are brought to justice in fair trials. Furthermore, Amnesty International urges that anyone who has been subjected to enforced disappearance or otherwise held in secret or arbitrary detention must be released unless they are charged with a recognisable criminal offence and brought promptly to a fair trial in accordance with international standards.

Threats to relatives taking part in Long March to Islamabad
Relatives of people subjected to enforced disappearance are currently undertaking a “Long March” from Quetta to Islamabad via Karachi, protesting these violations and calling on the authorities to reveal the fate or whereabouts of their loved ones. Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to take measures to ensure the protection of the protestors, particularly following credible claims by participants of threats received from unknown persons over the phone. The authorities must also carry out credible investigations to determine who is behind the threats, ensuring that suspects are brought to justice in fair trials. Furthermore, Amnesty International urges that anyone who has been subjected to enforced disappearance or otherwise held in secret or arbitrary detention must be released unless they are charged with a recognisable criminal offence and brought promptly to a fair trial in accordance with international standards.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA33/001/2014/en/80b03c81-129e-4d5e-82ce-10bbd71f8f4c/asa330012014en.html

Thousands of people have gone missing after arrests which began in 2001.

Thousands of people have gone missing after arrests which began in 2001, exact numbers are not known. Marchers feel betrayed by the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court of Pakistan which they claim is hearing cases of enforced disappearances but doing little to stop them. Families talk of secret detention centres and military torture cells. Some of the missing have failed to be produced in court as ordered by the judiciary and the military are declining to attend hearings.