Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Baloch Human Rights Council's letter to UN on the occasion of Int. Day of disappearances



His Excellency Ban Ki-moon
Secretary General
United Nation
United Nations Plaza,
New York, NY 10017
Dated: 29/08/12
Subject: Missing persons in Balochistan and the proposed visit of UN officials
Dear Sir,
Baloch Human Rights Council (UK) welcomes the forthcoming visit of a United Nations delegation to investigate the human rights violations being committed by the Pakistani security agencies in Balochistan. Human rights organizations and Baloch political organizations have been demanding from the international community to intervene and pressurize Pakistani authorities in order to stop gross injustices to the Baloch people. The visit of a UN delegation is a very appreciable and positive step in this regard.
Dear Secretary General,
Over the past many years, the people of Balochistan have witnessed immense and brutal measures from the State of Pakistan in response to the legitimate demands of the Baloch people for fundamental human rights of civil liberty, justice and right to self-determination for  sovereign Balochistan. The Pakistani state has responded with the brutal attacks committed by its military, intelligence agencies and paramilitary forces. Thousands of innocent men, women and children have been mercilessly killed, hundreds of thousands have been displaced and thousands are missing and their whereabouts are still unknown.  Pakistani govt. officials have accepted of more than 1000 missing person themselves last year and we genuinely believe that their lives are in grave danger.
In addition, the Pakistani military establishment has created numerous religious terrorist organizations as proxy “Death Squads” comprising of drug peddlers, dacoits and convicted criminals. These are working with different nomenclatures and are given the task of physically eliminating the secular Baloch intellectuals, political and human rights activists.
The role of Pakistani army in the killings and abduction of the Baloch activists has been highlighted in detailed reports from all well known human rights organisations. A large number of prominent Baloch social, intellectual and political figures have been targeted and eliminated by the state security agencies of Pakistan directly or through their proxy terrorist religious and criminal organizations and outfits like Lashkar-e- Jhangui and Defah-e-Aman Committee. On the occasion of international day of forced disappearances on 30 August 2012, we expect that UN will take cognizance of this aspect of human right violation in Balochistan.
Dear Sir,
The Pakistani state is waging a war against the Baloch without witnesses. Access has been denied to foreign observers, journalists, and humanitarian organizations to enter the conflict zones in Balochistan. It is requested that the UN delegation must ensure that they should be allowed to visit interior Balochistan (Not only to Quetta ) and meet the affected families and representatives of the Baloch nationalist parties and organizations. The UN officials should not depend on the statements of those who are firmly affiliated with Pakistani security establishment in one way or the other. The UN officials must ensure the physical safety and security of those families & Baloch representatives who may be able to meet them.
Dear Mr. Secretary General,
The acts of human rights abuses in Balochistan implicate serious violations of Pakistan’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICCPED) and other applicable norms of international human rights laws.
We once again thank you for the intervention of United Nations in order to pressurize the Pakistani state for an immediate end to genocide acts being committed on the Baloch nation . We hope that this will give the much needed relief to the Baloch nation long been subjected to inhuman atrocities.

Yours Sincerely,
Samad Baloch
General Secretary
Baloch Human Rights Council (UK)

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