RULE OF DEATH SQUADS IN BALOCHISTAN

Balochistan is presently ruled by death squads and the state machinery had failed to trace the death squads and bust all of them or bring them to justice by allowing the laws of the land to take its natural course. Thanks to the former President, General ® Pervez Musharraf, who initiated killing of innocent people only to satisfy his ego. Nawab Bugti and other Baloch leaders were more respected people and enjoyed a better reputation in the eyes of the people of Pakistan which the General resented as a mediocre. Since then, there are death squads are operating and the innocent intellectuals, journalists, senior political leaders, teachers, university professors, doctors, engineers, lawyers, students, musicians and other professionals are being killed with complete impunity. Similarly, no one endorse the killing of innocent and non combatants by the militants and there is no justification for targeting civilians and unarmed people on any pretext. It is a fascist approach to kill the opponents. There is a thin line between legitimate struggle for national rights and terrorism. The Tamil Tigers were involved in fascist killing of innocent people for which the whole declared them as terrorist group for their acts of terrorism and finally eliminated from the political scene of Sri Lanka. It was a Mafia and a fascist movement had nothing to do with the rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. The militant groups should not follow the footprints of Tamil Tigers and spare the innocent people or non combatants so that they should be dubbed as terrorists. The State is least interested to trace the death squads and Government functionaries are blaming hostile intelligence agencies for the killing of Baloch political opponents of the Government. So far the State functionaries had failed to provide any evidence before the people in general and the Supreme Court of Pakistan indicating that hostile intelligence agencies are involved in target killing of Baloch people. On the contrary, Voice of Baloch Missing Persons claimed that 480 mutilated bodies were found. They were all missing persons with proof that they were picked up by the state functionaries and their bodies were thrown at the public places. In this background, the UN Working Group is visiting Pakistan on the invitation of the Government of Pakistan to ascertain the facts about the enforced disappearances. There were score of protest demonstrations outside the UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva claiming enforced disappearances for which the Government is blamed. On this pressure, the UN had formed the Working Group to ascertain the facts. The UN Group is expected to present the report before the UN Human Rights Commission sometime in March next. The Pakistan Government is bound to facilitate the UN Working Group on enforced disappearances. It is hoped that during the fact finding mission, UN will able to pinpoint the groups operating death squads in Balochistan and elsewhere. Killing of innocent people, including tribal elders, political activists and intellectuals are reported from Khuzdar, Kalat, Mastung, Awaran, Gwadar, Pasni, Buleida, Turbat, Tump, Mand and its border regions close to Iran, Panjgur, Bugti and Marri Tribal territories. In recent days, four dead bodies were found in Kalat. Earlier, four innocent youth were gunned down presumably on revenge killing, seven persons, including a tribal elder Saeed Qalandrani, were gunned down and killed in the similar pattern in Khuzdar. There should be an end to these senseless killing of innocent people allowing politics to take its natural and peaceful course. Pakistan is located in a very dangerous region where world powers are in conflict with regional States for one reason or the other. If there is no peace in Pakistan, the world power will take full advantage to implicate or drag Pakistan into the regional conflict to the disadvantage of the Baloch people in particular and Pakistan as a State in general. It is in the interest of all concerned that there should be peace in Balochistan and all the groups should wind up their death squads before they are exposed and destroyed by more powerful forces present in the region.