LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) appealed to parliamentarians on Friday to urgently take up the issue of the victimisation and “merciless oppression” of the inhabitants of the Dera Bugti area.

HRCP chairperson Asma Jahangir said thousands of innocent men, women and children of the Bugti tribe were being victimised on a daily basis by security forces stationed in the Dera Bugti area and rival Bugti clans propped up by the government in Sui. Recently, around 500 men, women and children walked for hours to reach Gulshan-e-Ghazia in Karachi from Sangsilla Town in the Bugti area and related their plight to HRCP. They spoke of children dying of hunger, people being shot dead and kidnappings by rival locals protected by the Frontier Constabulary (FC) as well as by the FC personnel themselves. Strangers entering the area, including other Balochis and journalists, are being turned back by the security forces.

“HRCP continues to receive harrowing reports of merciless oppression against members of the Bugti tribe suspected of retaining any sympathy towards their late tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. HRCP reminds the government that to justify its operation in Dera Bugti, it took the plea that the ordinary Bugti was greatly disadvantaged, and according to them exploited by tribal leaders. It is now abundantly clear that the government’s real intention was to persecute the tribes belonging to the Akbar Bugti faction,” read the HRCP statement. HRCP urged parliamentarians to visit the people of Dera Bugti, raise the issue in parliament and put an immediate end to the abuse unleashed by the government.

Several Baloch men missing for three years

Some Baloch families are compelled to spend the rest of their lives looking at the photographs of their missing relatives despite the Supreme Court’s orders, said the women of these families while talking to Daily Times Friday.

Somri Gul Baloch and Mehjabeen Baloch said that several of their young relatives have been missing for the past 3 years. They claim that these men were illegally detained by secret agencies. A few who have been released have informed them that more people were still trapped there.

A woman named Humaira said that her cousin Abdul Qadir who is an engineer has been missing for the past three years, while two cousins Khalid Sheikh and Ali bin Abdul Aziz were in Guantanamo Bay. “My younger brothers Zahid, Nawaz and Iqbal were kidnapped on March 14 along with other cousins from Mund, a picnic point in Balochistan,” she said. Her cousin Khalid was killed after being subjected to brutal torture last month. His body was later given to the local administration which then handed it over to the family.

Shereen Guhram, the wife of Guhram Saleh, said that her husband was arrested 3 years ago. Their son who was born after Saleh went missing has never seen his father. Saleh’s 80-year-old mother could not bear the shock and went into coma. Those who were arrested in connection with this case have not been presented in court yet, she said.