HRCP slams dumping of Baloch bodies in Karachi

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has noted with concern the continued dumping of mutilated dead bodies of the missing Baloch men in Karachi and demanded that the killers should be brought to justice.

In a statement released on Friday, the commission noted “with great dismay and strongly condemned the fact that there had been no let up in the discovery of dead bodies of missing persons.”

It added: “While the discovery of mutilated dead bodies is unfortunately hardly unusual in Karachi, it is a matter of grave concern that in recent months bodies of men who had gone missing in Balochistan have increasingly been found dumped in Karachi with chits bearing their names left in their pockets for identification.

“This week alone, bodies of three Baloch men, Muhammad Ramzan, Abdul Ghafoor and Abdul Razzaq, have been found in Surjani Town area of Karachi.

Ramzan and Abdul Ghafoor had gone missing in Turbat in Balochistan last week and their families had alleged that they had been picked up by the security forces. Bodies of both men bore signs of torture.

The body of Abdul Razzaq, a Balochistan-based journalist who lived in Karachi’s Lyari area had been missing since March, was so badly mutilated that his family could not identify him when they first saw the body.

In the end, only his arms and legs were sufficiently intact to enable identification. The HRCP is gravely concerned over the abduct-kill-and-dump incidents in Balochistan and now the discovery of the missing persons’ bodies in Karachi.

The HRCP demands that the disappearance of the three men and their killings must be fully investigated with a view to identifying the killers and bringing them to justice. It must also be established if Abdul Razzaq was targeted because of his work as a journalist.

As the federal government has vowed to address the various challenges in Balochistan, it must take up this one on priority and send an unambiguous message to all actors that it will no longer tolerate abducted young men turning up as dead bodies.

The goodwill claimed by the government as a democratically elected authority, both at the centre and in Quetta, could soon give way to people’s disappointment and despair if the horrible practice of killing the abducted does not stop.”