Government Issues False Statements About Missing Persons

The newly elected government of Pakistan has constituted two committees for Balochistan province, one for missing persons and the other for internally-displaced persons. Of all of the country’s provinces, Balochistan suffered was the worst hit by the violence perpetrated by the armed forces including the army and Air Force. Since 2001 hundreds of people have been killed in aerial bombardments which allegedly utilised American made and supplied F16 fighter/bombers. At the same time the land forces displaced thousands of people in order to construct their cantonments and for the land of Gwader Port project. The political and nationalist forces are claiming that at least 4000 persons are missing after arrests and 200,000 persons have been displaced due to military action. (Please see AHRC-STM-085-2008, AS-204-2006, AS-199-2006 and several other urgent appeals and statements on the conditions of Balochistan province at our website http://www.ahrchk.net/ )

 

According to the Senator Baber Awan of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and secretary of its “reconciliatory Committee on Balochistan”, the government has set up two committees to investigate cases of missing persons and internally displaced people. The Senator, on behalf of ruling party, has announced the names of committee regarding internally displaced persons due to military operation but has yet to announce the names of committee members investigating missing persons. His announcement of the setting up of the committees came just two days after the visit of the Prime Minister to Balochistan. The Prime Minister, Mr. Yousaf Raza Gillani, during his visit on May 2, 2007, announced that it has been decided that no army action will be carried out in the province until a strategy is formulated in consultation with representatives of the provincial government to deal with the issue of law and order in the province. The prime minister also ordered the release and withdrawal of cases against all political leaders of the province including Mr. Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the former chief minister of the Balochistan.

However, the nationalists and political groups are claiming that the announcements by the newly elected government is nothing more than a lip service as no cases have yet been withdrawn, no one has yet been released and the names of the members of the committee on missing persons have not yet been announced. The prime minister also announced plans to replace 6000 army personnel with the Frontier Constabulary (FC), but army is there with its full strength.

The current situation is very much the reverse of what the prime minister and other people from ruling parties are announcing. The disappearances still continue and in a recent event on April 28, just four days before the visit of the prime minister to Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, military personnel attacked and raided different houses and hostels of Khuzdar Degree College at the city of Khuzdar and arrested more than 200 persons. Among them ten persons are missing. On April 29, army officials raided the house of comrade Ghaffar, the district president of the Jamhoori Watan Party, a nationalist group, since then his whereabouts are unknown. The attack on the civilians was carried out after the killing of two persons from military intelligence. A separatist organization, the Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the killings but in retaliation army attacked the whole city. The prime minister announced the withdrawal of the armed forces but the army has made no moves to leave the province.

On May 2, when the prime minister was visiting Balochistan five persons were kidnapped by the law enforcement agencies and their charred bodies were later found in the center of market place of Dera Bugti city. These persons, namely, Mr. Nazar Mohammad Bugti, Rustam Bugti and Jeo Bugti (the names of other two were not available), were arrested before witnesses, by military personnel on charges of having links with the Balochistan Liberation Army.

The number of disappearances after arrests during the first four months of this year has reached 49 persons in the country. Forced disappearances have continued despite the change in government and even after the announcements of the prime minister to halt military operations in the province and release the political leaders including the former chief minister. The announcements from the newly elected governments, at provincial and federal levels, are no more than lip service to raise their popularity.

The government of Mr. Yousaf Gillani should come out with clear announcements of practical steps about the relief of Balochistan people who have suffered the brunt of military operations since 2001. The government should immediately announce the names of those persons who remain incommunicado in military torture camps and investigate the claims of those persons who testified before the courts that they themselves saw people in different army camps.

Without meaningful dialogue and constitution-based guarantees to the people of Blochistan the issues of forced disappearances and displacement will never be solved. The solution through legal and constitutional methods is best, rather than appeasing the tyrants and dodging the people through false announcements.

Pakistani Civil Democracy Can Defeat Any Dictatorship

By SYED YOUSAF RAZA GILLANI
[The writer is Prime Minister of Pakistan and Vice-Chairman of the
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) www.ppp.org.pk ]

It is important for Pakistan — which has transited from an authoritarian regime to democratic governance –that the message of this first critical post-election period be bold and clear. Like newly elected governments in other democratic societies, we intend to set the tone and agenda. We want to show the world that our nation is back in business, with an overwhelming
mandate from our people.

This is not an easy transition. The scars of the past decade are deep. The problems facing our country are great. But the sacrifices of millions of Pakistanis — including Pakistan’s quintessential democratic leader, Benazir Bhutto — were not made so that our new government could be timid. We know our people expect action and progress. Our boldness is a manifestation of our awareness of the stakes — both of success and failure.

My government is a coalition of modern, moderate, innovative, progressive democratic forces determined to jump-start the economy and to rebuild the social fabric of Pakistan. We have already freed political prisoners and lifted press censorship. We have released detained judges and will restore an independent judiciary, the centerpiece of civil society. We will strengthen and protect our neglected democratic infrastructure, especially Parliament. We will reform our tribal areas economically, politically and socially through
measures that address the needs of the people and will integrate these
areas into mainstream society.

The world is rightly concerned about the threat of terrorism and
expects its elimination to be our government’s highest priority. We
intend to vigorously continue the  ‘war against terrorism’ with the support of the people. Pakistan must fight terrorism for Pakistan’s sake. Past efforts have suffered because of the view that Pakistan sought to combat terrorism only in response to international pressure.

Our strategy against global terrorism will be multifaceted. We will
combine the use of force against terrorists and civil dialogue with
those who, because of religious or ethnic considerations, were misled
into supporting extremists. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001,
people and tribes along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan were swept
into a wave of violence and anti-Western sentiment. Pakistan will not
negotiate with terrorists, but it will not refrain from talking to
insurgent tribesmen whose withdrawal of support could help drain the
swamp in which terrorists fester and grow. Yet no talks will be held
with anyone refusing to lay down arms.

Our policy aims to marginalize militants in the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) and our North-West Frontier region, where the rule
of law had been abandoned and territory all but ceded to ‘al-Qaeda’ and the ‘Taliban’. Negotiations with the various tribes are being pursued with the help of the secular Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP), which has intimate knowledge of tribes and clans in the area and which, along with my Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), received the bulk of the votes of ethnic Pashtuns in the February 18, 2008 parliamentary elections.

Erroneous comparisons have been made between our new policy and the
failed deals reached with tribal militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in 2004 and 2006. Those agreements were signed after militant groups bruised Pakistan’s security forces in battle. Now we are negotiating from a position of strength. Militants have been asked to surrender their weapons and unequivocally give up violence. We will not cut off our ability to use force or lower the vigilance we maintain to guard against violations of the peace agreements.

We intend to restore order and to give the people an option other than
collaborating with murderers whose sole goal is chaos and anarchy. We
will welcome our tribes back into society while respecting their
conservative interpretations of Islam, as long as they give up
violence and refuse to acquiesce to the intimidation of terrorists.

Since the anti-Soviet resistance of the 1980s, the security and
prosperity of Pakistan and Afghanistan have become interdependent. The
border between our countries is porous, not least because some 3 million Afghan refugees still in Pakistan need to maintain ties with their kin. We intend to work with the Afghan government to secure the border and to ensure the repatriation of the refugees with dignity, security and full economic opportunity.

We understand that unemployment, inflation and poverty are corrosive
elements that, if left unaddressed, can create hopelessness and ennui
that undermine authority. Our government confronts high global food
and oil prices and has inherited food shortages exacerbated by the
smuggling of Pakistani wheat across our borders. Yet our government
plans to be the safety net that ensures equity and protects people. We
seek and expect the support of the international community in
attaining these objectives.

There are moments in all nations’ histories that divide the past from
the future, that define nations’ souls. This is such a moment for
Pakistan. God willing, we will demonstrate to our people and to the
other 1.9 billion Muslims on this planet that democracy works and is
the best guarantee against terrorism, injustice and hopelessness.