Beating up protesters is not the answer: HRCP

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has censured the merciless beating and ill-treatment of nurses protesting for their rights by police in Lahore on Thursday and called upon the government to be more imaginative and less heavy-handed in dealing with the people’s peaceful demands for their rights.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Commission said: “HRCP notes with concern and much distress the manner in which nurses protesting for their rights outside the Punjab Assembly in Lahore were beaten up on Thursday. It is a matter of grave concern that police used batons without restraint to disperse the protesters and it matters little whether the attackers were policemen or policewomen. The police action was manifestly ruthless and disproportionate to any ‘hazard’ the nurses were deemed to be causing. But this is not an isolated incident confined to any particular city or province of the country. Protesting teachers in Balochistan, and employees of the country’s biggest telecommunication company as well as gas department employees, among countless others have been dealt with in a similarly harsh manner even when they were not posing any threat to public security. The government must find a better method of dealing with these things and try listening to the people’s demands rather than focusing on the use of force to disperse those who come out on the streets to demand their rights.

HRCP slams murder of 2 missing persons, wants activist released

Lahore, January 6: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed alarm at the recovery of dead bodies of two missing persons from Turbat and demanded that both cases must be investigated and the culprits brought to justice and that HRCP activist Siddique Eido abducted by state agents from Pasni on December 21 must be released immediately.

A statement issued by HRCP on Thursday said: “HRCP has noted with grave concern the recovery of dead bodies of Qambar Chakar and Ilyas Nazar from Turbat, who had reportedly been abducted by state agents on November 25 from Turbat and December 21 from Pasni, respectively.

The recovery of the bodies is devastating not only for the families of the two victims, but has also increased distress of families of other missing persons who have pinned their hopes on courts for the safe recovery of their loved ones. These include Siddique Eido, the HRCP coordinator in Pasni, who was abducted by state agents on December 21. Several witnesses of the abduction, including at least four policemen, had seen Mr Eido being taken away by individuals in FC uniforms. It is alarming that even after a fortnight Mr Eido has neither been released nor produced in court. HRCP demands that the government must ensure immediate release of Mr Eido and all other citizens in illegal and unacknowledged detention of the security agencies. An independent and transparent probe must be held not only into the killing of the two persons whose bodies were found on January 5 but in all such cases in Balochistan. The volatile situation in the province is all the more reason why the government must make sure that its agents strictly adhere to due process of law and respect human rights.”

HRCP condemns killing of university teacher in Quetta

HRCP condemns the target killing of Nazima Talib, a university teacher in Quetta, and calls upon the government to provide adequate security to vulnerable academic staff across Balochistan and bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice. Most of the victims are so-called settlers in the province who have been providing valuable services to people of Balochistan for the last several decades. Unfortunately, some Baloch militant organizations often claim responsibility for such murders and try to justify their acts as revenge for the excesses committed by the law-enforcing agencies against the Baloch political activists. HRCP is of the view that the excesses committed by the security agencies should not be visited on innocent non-Baloch people who served the Baloch society without any discrimination of race or language.

The killing of innocent people on ethnic basis serves no purpose for otherwise a legitimate struggle for political rights of the Baloch population. It is unfortunate that most of senior Baloch leaders have not condemned these ruthless killings strongly enough, some of them present conspiracy theories to divert the blame from the Baloch organisations which hardly makes any sense. As the target killings have led to migration of the settlers, mostly engaged in the services sector where the Baloch people do not have or have little indigenous expertise, out of Balochistan, the Baloch people have suffered owing to increasing shortage of necessary services. As a result, the education system in the province has been destroyed besides the unavailability of other essential services such as healthcare.

The government, despite the heavy presence of paramilitary forces and all sorts of intelligence agencies in the province, has failed in checking the crime. So far, no criminal has been brought to justice in any incident of target killing which emboldens the perpetrators of the crime. The discontent among the Baloch youth could not be assuaged though several months passed since the government made commitments to take measures to win over the Baloch nationalists, especially the young Baloch, under the Aghaz-i-Huqooq-i-Balochistan Package. The murder of the woman teacher at the Balochistan University should serve as a reminder to the powers that be that they need to act immediately and decisively to make things improve in the Balochistan province.