The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons have organised a seminar at Karachi Press Club on Sunday to observe the International Human Rights Day. The seminar was also aimed to highlight the ongoing human rights violations and state atrocities in Balochistan. A large number of people and distinguished speakers participated in the seminar to express their solidarity with the families of enforced-disappeared and extra-judicially killed Baloch. The speaker included Chairman of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, Nasruallah Baloch, Vice chairman of VBMP, Abdul Qadeer Baloch aka Mama Qadeer, Banuk Farzana Majeed Baloch, sister of BSO-azad senior leader Zakir Majeed Baloch , Mohammad Haneef, a senior BBC Urdu journalist and several others. The leaders of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons and guest speakers spoke about the gross human rights violations and enforced disappearances. The VBMP leaders said the number of enforcedly disappeared persons has surpassed 14500 and 606 people among them killed in custody, their bodies were found from desolated areas across Balochistan. The Pakistani Supreme conducted 68 hearings and has given 160 orders on Balochistan situation. The court has held death squads of Pakistani Intelligence agencies, FC, Balochistan and Federal government directly responsible for the enforced disappearances, custodial killings, targeted killings and kidnappings for ransom in its provisional orders of 16th December 2012. The court also declared the Balochistan provincial government as incompetent and said the government has failed to protect the lives of people of Balochistan hence they have right to stay in power. “Despite this provisional order neither the provincial government resigned nor did the federal government tried to enforce the decree of Supreme Court,” said Qadeer Baloch.The report discusses in details the torture that Baloch suffer in Pakistani security forces custody and the killings of 63 people belonging to the minority communities of Sikh and Hindus on 17th March 2005 in Dera Bugti. Majority of these killed were women and children and they were when Pakistan Air Force bombarded a Hindu temple. The residents of Sui and Dera Bugti testified that on 17th March the Pakistani forces deliberately targeted the civilian populated areas and killed innocent women and children.The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons leaders further said that on several occasions Pakistani security forces held women and children hostage at gunpoint and asked them to force their male members to surrender before the occupying forces. The state security forces are committing inhuman crimes in Balochistan and despite the concern of UN and other international human rights organisations Pakistan is disregarding international human rights laws. Military operations, enforced-disappearances and extra-judicial killings have become the order of the day as security agencies and their hired proxy gangs operate with almost judicial and constitutional impunity. At present there are thousands of Baloch in the custody of Pakistani military and their death squads where they are subjected to brutal torture and humiliation. FC and other security agencies have created their death squad that roam freely and kill Baloch political activists in broad day light – then they go straight to nearby FC and security forces check posts after committing the crime. The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons leaders appealed to the International human rights organisations to take practical notice of state barbarism, atrocities and gross human rights violations in Balochistan. They also urged the UN to pressurise the state to stop Baloch genocide, bombing on civilian population and enforced-disappearances.
