Balochistan: Four family members forcibly disappeared by Pakistani authorities

Quetta, Dec 15 At least four individuals from the same family were forcibly disappeared in Balochistan after being summoned to the Sariab police station in the provincial capital Quetta, a leading human rights organisation said on Monday.

According to the human rights body Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), an awareness seminar marking International Human Rights Day was held in Quetta on Saturday, at an indoor venue, with no roads blocked and no hindrance to state affairs.

Despite this, the rights body said, on suspicion of participating in the seminar, the four individuals from the Baloch family were summoned to the Sariab police station on Saturday night and later forcibly disappeared.

The BYC stated that when a petition seeking the recovery of the individuals was filed in court on Sunday morning, the Pakistani authorities did not produce them before the judge.

Instead, it said, the court was informed that they were being held in custody at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Quetta under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), a law that allows "preventative detention" based on the government's assessment of "potential threats to public order".

The rights body alleged that no legal documents substantiating the detention were presented to the court.

Condemning the incident, the BYC described the situation as clear evidence that an "undeclared military martial law" is effectively in force in Balochistan at present, in which everyone from judges to deputy commissioners is collaborating with Pakistan’s Army and intelligence agencies to play the role of "plainclothes military personnel".

"Organising a programme on the International Human Rights Day is in itself a fundamental human and constitutional right, but merely on this basis, subjecting four individuals from a family to enforced disappearance and then keeping them in detention under 3MPO without any legal justification proves that the State of Pakistan is running Balochistan in a colonial manner," the BYC stated.

"To the extent that the state is openly demonstrating oppression and tyranny, to that same extent it is becoming clear that in today's society, the real criminals are the state and its functionaries, while the individuals imprisoned in jails and punishment houses belong to oppressed and subjugated classes," it added.

The BYC appealed to international human rights organisations to take effective and practical measures against this state oppression, stating that remaining silent on this occasion is tantamount to strengthening the oppression by the Pakistani authorities.

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