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Pakistan: Kill And Dump In Balochistan – Analysis

 

By Sanchita Bhattacharya

On October 1, 2020, a bench of the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan, including the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, while hearing a petition at its Quetta registry seeking recovery of missing persons in Balochistan, categorically rejected the inquiry report submitted by the Police. The SC bench ordered that the person who prepared the inquiry report must be removed from service and sent back home. “Is this a report? Person who prepared [this] must be fired from service,” the CJP remarked.

The CJP observed, further, “Police officials do not know how to investigate cases. Missing persons’ cases were reported between 2017 and 2018 while the police performance in their recovery has been zero.”

The report was submitted to the bench by Senior Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch (Investigation), Muhammad Akbar Raisani. The Court remarked, “You are a PSP [Police Service of Pakistan] officer but you do not know how to investigate.”

The hearing of the case was adjourned for four weeks, with direction for the Balochistan Inspector General of Police Mohsin Abbas Butt to appear through video link in the next hearing to be held at the Supreme Court in Islamabad.

During the hearing, the Court also expressed concern over the plying of smuggled vehicles on roads, aerial firing and other illegal acts committed daily in Balochistan, and ordered the authorities concerned to take action in this regard.

On September 20, 2020, Mama Qadeer Baloch, the vice-chairman of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) – a group which pursues and monitors cases of enforced disappearances – asserted that state-backed death squads had spilled the blood of the Baloch in several areas of Balochistan.

On October 3, two dead bodies were recovered in separate incidents from Panjgur District and Lasbela District of Balochistan. The body of a man identified as Muhammad Niaz was found in the Kahen-Zangi area of Panjgur. The dead body of a 56-year-old man, Sabir, was discovered close to a hill near the Sakran Attock Cement Factory in Hub city.

On September 10, the mutilated dead body of Hafizullah Mohammad Hassani, who had been missing for four years, was found at Pul-Choto in Dalbandain area of Chagai District in Balochistan. Hassani was a resident of Killi Qasim and a farmer by profession. He was forcibly disappeared on August 30, 2016. According to locals, the body was discovered due to the recent rains.

Fiveincidents were reported in August 2020:

August 28: The bullet riddled body of a man, identified as Ashraf Dadain (50), resident of Buleda, was discovered from the mountains of the Kulbar area in Kech District, Balochistan. According to the locals, the man was abducted by unidentified armed persons a few days earlier.

August 11: A missing person’s body was recovered from the Buleda area of Kech District in Balochistan. Rahim,son of Dad Baksh, was abducted along with two others about a week earlier, allegedly during a raid by the Security Forces in the Kuchag area of Buleda. The other abductees are still missing.

August 6: The body of a man was recovered from the Killi Gishkori area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.

August 6: The body of an unidentified man was recovered from the Labour Colony area of Hub town in Lasbela District.

August 6: The body of man, identified as Hussain-ul-Deen, was recovered from Sibi District.

According to Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances data, as on August 31, 2020, atleast 509 cases cases of alleged Enforced Disappearances have been registered from Balochistan since March 13, 2011, when the Commission was formed.

However, the VBMP stated in 2018 that, between 2002 and September 2018, at least 6,428 persons have gone missing in the Balochistan Province.

Indeed, on June 17, 2020, the Balochistan National Party (BNP) quit the Imran Khan-led Federal Government saying it was upset over unfulfilled promises of the Government to address Baloch grievances, including the worsening issue of the missing people. As reported on July 20, 2020, when he led the BNP into an alliance with Khan’s coalition about two years ago, Akhtar Mengal gave a list of 5,128 missing people. Since then, Mengal claimed, another 1,800 were reported to have disappeared.

Shockingly, Pakistan is now practising the method of enforced disappearance on the Baloch Diaspora abroad as well. On March 2, 2020, a Baloch journalist and activist Sajid Hussain was ‘disappeared’ from Sweden. His body was later found in a river in Uppsala on May 1, 2020. Earlier, another Baloch social activist, Rashid Hussain, was arrested and ‘disappeared’ from Sharjah, by UAE secret agencies on December 26, 2018. Rashid had been living and working in UAE for several years. After six months Rashid Hussain was illegally deported and handed over to Pakistani authorities by UAE.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s ‘kill and dump’ policy in the Province continues. Mutilated dead bodies, in different stages of decomposition and beyond recognition, dotting the roads of Balochistan are a common occurrence. These are part of the nefarious ‘kill and dump’ policy of the Pakistani state.

According to a March 2019 report, mass graves were found in Balochistan for the first time in 2014 in the Turbat District. Since then, every year, the people of the region have discovered similar graves in different areas. In each case the discovery follows the same pattern – the Army and intelligence agencies cordon off the area, keeping people away. Nobody really knows how many bodies are buried there or who they were. The report further states that, according to the Federal Ministry of Human Rights, since the year 2011, nearly 1,000 dead bodies have been found, mostly in the areas of Quetta, Kalat, Khuzdar, and Makran. 

As reported on March 15, 2020, acknowledging the grievous situation, Nigel Adams, the British Minister of State Affairs at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, noted,

We are aware of reports of mass graves in Khuzdar, Turbat and Dera Bugti in Balochistan. These would be of deep concern to the British government… The British government regularly raises its concerns about human rights at the highest levels of the Government of Pakistan.

Enforced disappearances and recoveries of dead bodies have become rampant in Balochistan. Though the Supreme Court’s latest observations highlight the existing lawlessness, it is highly improbable that Rawalpindi will make any changes in its practice of using unbridled force against Baloch nationals.

https://www.eurasiareview.com/06102020-pakistan-kill-and-dump-in-balochistan-analysis/

Is rapid urbanization making Pakistan's cities less livable?

 

For developing countries, urban development is synonymous with economic growth and progress. In Pakistan, however, city planning experts say rapid urbanization is starting to cause more harm than good.

Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province, is shrouded in plumes of smog from October to February every year as crop burning  exacerbates the city's air pollution problem. 

The monsoon season this year brought the southern city of Karachi, Pakistan's financial hub, to a standstill as the city experienced its heaviest rainfall in a single spell since 1931 and massive flooding. Its poor waste disposal and drainage systems aggravated the problem of water logging in parts of the city, which is home to roughly 15 million people.

Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, is a "planned city" that came in to being in the 1960s. Over the years, however, many informal settlements and ad hoc developments have worsened housing and traffic woes for the city's residents.

"I couldn't have imagined a few years ago that I would get stuck in traffic but now it is an everyday reality. The authorities keep widening roads as a solution but it's making traffic worse and making this once green city, grey," said Islamabad resident Amir Tariq.

Rather than being sites of development, democratization and opportunity, Pakistan's cities are fast becoming hubs of gross inequality and unlivable for many people, particularly as private economic interests outweigh public goods.

Overpopulation means more trash, like the pile of garbage seen here in Islamabad

Economic growth and inequality

According to the United Nations Development Program, Pakistan has the highest rate of urbanization in South Asia, with 36.4% of the population living in urban areas. The UN estimates that by 2025 nearly half of the country's inhabitants will be living in cities.

Globally, it is estimated that cities generate about 80% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Cumulatively, cities in Pakistan generate 55% of the nation's GDP. Multi-dimensional poverty in cities is also generally lower compared to that in rural areas.

However, income inequality and limited access to mobility and resources such as water, job opportunities and housing are growing problems in every major city of the country.

Compounding the problems are the government's and city planners' focus on economic growth.

"Our cities are planned for exclusion and are poor unfriendly. Cities are over-planned rather than organic as the colonial paradigm is still used. So the privileged get resources and space, while poor people are in shantytowns," Nadeem ul Haque, vice-chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, told DW.

'Least livable' city

The United Nations' world cities report named Karachi's Orangi town, home to around 2.4 million people, as the largest among the world's five biggest slums. Karachi has also found a place in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 10 least livable cities in the world.

Around a quarter of the world's urban population live in slums — and the figure is rising fast.

Slums in Pakistan are the lifeblood of the city, housing people engaged in all sorts of professions – from cleaners, drivers and electricians to cooks, plumbers and domestic workers, among others, who allow the city to function optimally.

Karachi's Orangi Town slum is one of the largest in the world

Nevertheless, there is no state-funded housing or welfare for these workers.

Impoverished slum residents sometimes turn to suicide. In February, a 44-year-old Orangi town resident died by setting himself on fire. A letter addressed to Prime Minister Imran Khan was found in the deceased person's pocket, in which he criticized the government for not providing Pakistanis opportunities for adequate income and housing.

Noman Ahmed, director at Karachi Urban Lab, believes that the government alone cannot tackle Pakistan's urban housing problem. To make cities more livable, he said, there must be an integrative approach to urbanization that views housing as a process and not a product.

"No housing census has been done since 1998, which poses problems in proper planning. Housing cannot be directly subsidized due to the enormity of the cost and resource intensiveness. The government can help create enabling options for people to build their own houses and other facilities," Ahmad told DW.

Reclaiming cities

Citizen-led sustainable urban organizations are steadily mushrooming across the country. Mome Saleem, executive director of the Institute of Urbanization, started a campaign called "Reclaim Green Islamabad" in 2015.

"In 2016, we successfully rallied against the cutting of 240 very old trees in Islamabad and even though the trees were eventually cut, it was the first time citizens of Islamabad came out in large numbers to demand a greener, cleaner city," Saleem told DW.

The Orangi Pilot Project's low-cost sanitation, health, housing and microcredit programs empowered residents to make this slum much more livable for themselves as it was a squatter community, and did not qualify for government aid due to their "unofficial" status.

Shehri, meaning "citizen," is an organization that's successful in shaping dialogue and organizing resistance to various government policies and actions that are detrimental to urban prosperity.

As urbanization in Pakistan increases rapidly, Saleem underlined, problems are growing, but so is citizen action against them. So there's still hope to turn around Pakistan's urbanization from problem to progress.

https://www.dw.com/en/is-rapid-urbanization-making-pakistans-cities-less-livable/a-55162735

Should it be the right of those in power to decide who is a patriot and who is not? - Anti-state mantra

Zahid Hussain

A RELIC of the British colonial past, sedition laws have been used with impunity as a tool to suppress fundamental democratic rights in this country. There have been very few Pakistani leaders who have not been accused of sedition and anti-state activities. Even writers and journalists have not been spared.A large number of opposition leaders including two former prime ministers, retired generals, and other former holders of important public offices have now been booked on sedition charges and for anti-state activities. Interestingly, the case has been filed on the complaint of an obscure individual.

It was apparently Nawaz Sharif’s virtual address from London to an opposition conclave in Islamabad that has raised the spectre of this draconian law against the former prime minister. The others are accused of listening to the ‘seditious’ speech that was telecast live on electronic media. The government maintains that it didn’t have anything to do with the filing of treason cases. But can a police officer act on his own on such a politically sensitive issue?

The three-time former prime minister has been accused of being an ‘Indian agent’. It was the incumbent prime minister who fired the first salvo blaming Sharif of ‘working on an Indian agenda’.

Taking their cue from their leader, the party spokesmen launched a campaign of vilification against the opposition leaders. Politics now seems to have descended into sheer vulgarity with rival groups questioning each other’s patriotism. Such an ugly spectacle may not be new to Pakistani politics, but things had never hit such a low before.

The PM needs to focus on governance, and not on policing the patriotism of his rivals.

Sharif’s scathing criticism of the role of the security establishment in the country’s politics seems to have been the main reason for action against the former prime minister. There has been little in Sharif’s speech that other political leaders have not said before. It has been criticism of the unlawful and unconstitutional indulgence of a state apparatus acting outside its mandate. How can it be described as an act of sedition and anti-state activity?

Justifying the sedition allegation, the prime minister’s spokesman maintained that criticism of the security establishment is defiance of the Constitution. He did not refer to the other, more important clause of the Constitution that prohibits members of armed forces’ involvement in politics. This country has repeatedly witnessed the suspension of the Constitution and usurpation of power by the security establishment. Over the decades, the latter’s deep involvement in political affairs under civilian rules has also not been a secret.

Virtually all elected civilian governments have had the bitter experience of what is commonly described as a ‘state within a state’. Their own failings notwithstanding, elected governments have never been fully autonomous in taking decisions on key national issues. It’s also no secret how the intelligence apparatus was used to destablise the civilian leadership and prop up pliant politicians. This dark game has been going on for the past seven decades. Political parties would all too willingly assume the role of pawn in this game of chess. This has also been a major cause of perpetual political instability in the country. The involvement of the security establishment is perceived as much more pronounced in the present political set-up than under previous civilian dispensations, pushing the establishment much deeper into political affairs. Naturally, this makes it the target of the opposition’s attack.

What makes establishment elements more controversial is the perception of their involvement in extra-constitutional activities and partisan role. From the opposition parties’ perspective, the establishment leadership has become a part of the current political dispensation which affects its professional responsibilities.

Criticising the establishment for wrong policies and excesses doesn’t make anyone anti-state. In fact, greater harm is done when there is a perception that national security institutions have become involved in politics. Observers have alleged that there are elements among them who did more damage to the institution’s reputation than its critics over the years. Today, the sedition cases filed against the opposition leaders will once again drag the establishment deeper into the political battle between the government and the opposition. This campaign of labelling opposition leaders ‘anti-state’ and ‘Indian agents’ indicates the government’s weakness and state of panic. It’s not the threat of the opposition alliance, as much as its own ineptitude that has caused this nervousness in the ranks. The prime minister needs to focus more on improving his government’s performance than policing the patriotism of political rivals. A number of recent scandals have worsened the Khan government’s predicament making it more vulnerable to the opposition’s attack. The latest sensational revelation by a former FIA chief that he was asked by the ‘highest authority’ to file cases under anti-terrorism and treason laws against some senior PML-N leaders raises serious questions.

The prime minister allegedly admonished the former chief for not pursuing corruption investigations against the Sharif family. The revelation came in an interview, exposing the government’s claim of strengthening state institutions.

There is a view that the current civilian set-up has done more damage to civilian institutions than any administration in the recent past. As previously, there is an attempt at using law-enforcement agencies against political opponents. In fact, it is such actions that have brought the opposition parties together to challenge the PTI government. Despite the perception that it is supported by the establishment, it will be hard for the Imran Khan government to defend itself.

Labelling the opposition ‘anti-state’ may not help the government to confront the most serious challenge yet to its rule. Such charges are certainly not good advertisement for the government that has come to power on the promise of delivering good governance and to establish the rule of law.

It should not be the right of those in power to decide who is a patriot and who is not. Many of those who are not tired of displaying their ‘patriotism’ may not consider it wrong to usurp the rights of other people.

بلین ٹری منصوبہ اور بی آرٹی منصوبہ عمران خان کے سینہ پر میگا کرپشن کے تمغے ہیں

قومی اسمبلی کے سابق ڈپٹی اسپیکر اور پاکستان پیپلزپارٹی کے پی کے جنرل سیکریٹری فیصل کریم کنڈی نے کہا ہے کہ بلین ٹری منصوبہ اور بی آرٹی منصوبہ عمران خان کے سینہ پر میگا کرپشن کے تمغے ہیں۔ اس طرح مالم جبہ کرپشن اسکینڈل کے اصل کردار بھی عمران خان ہی ہیں۔

 انہوں نے سوال کیا کہ آخر ایک ارب درخت کہاں گئے؟ کیا ان کا تیل نکال کر سلائی مشین میں ڈالا گیا ہے اور بھوسہ کٹے کھا گئے ہیں؟ 

سابق ڈپٹی اسپیکر قومی اسمبلی نے کہا کہ عمران خان نے پشاور بی آرٹی منصوبے کا افتتاح کرنے کے لئے اس لئے جلد بازی کی تاکہ وہ اپنی لوٹ مار پر پردہ ڈال سکیں مگر بی آرٹی کا ایک ایک انچ عمران خان کی کرپشن کی گواہی دے رہا ہے۔ فیصل کریم کنڈی نے کہا کہ سات سال سے کے پی کے عوام کا خون نچوڑ کر بنی گالہ کے سلطان کو کھلایا جا رہا ہے۔

 انہوں نے کہا کہ نیب اندھا بھی ہے، گونگا بھی اور بہرا بھی اس لئے اسے وفاق ، پنجاب اور کے پی میں ہونے والی کرپشن نظر نہیں آرہی۔ 

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/23866/