Written Statements submitted at the occassion of United Nations 53rd Human Rights Council Session.
Letter to EU Members and EU Human Rights Commission :
Pakistan Pre-Session UPR United Nations Geneva
Pakistan UPR-Pre-Session
29th November 2022.
Despite several state recommendations, Pakistan has not yet ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Baloch Voice Association is submitting this document based on the violations of numerous human rights by the government of Pakistan. The report urges the implementation of concrete measures to resolve the growing abuses faced by the people in Pakistan. BVA believes end use of force. Military oppressions and subjugation of people by force. cessation of land expropriation, investigations into the priority of existing land expropriations and occupations, a return of seized land to local communities and an end to enforced disappearances.
Pakistan had agreed in a previous cycle to “strengthen the participation of minorities in all spheres of public life” – yet the evidence provided by many organisations and civil society representatives members displays a damning neglect to include the relevant stakeholders in decision making processes in recent years. Although a federal structure is implemented institutionally, many of the great development projects are driven by what is a heavily centralized state governed from the capital Islamabad.
The Pakistani Commission of Inquiry on Enforced disappearances, which was established in 2010 and has failed, so far, to solve cases of enforced disappearances.
“The court directed the commission to submit a clarification as to why it had failed to take effective action against the disappearances. The commission should also submit a report on why it had failed to take action after its production orders for the recovery of the missing persons were apparently snubbed, the IHC added.” 3
The UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances concluded after their visit to Pakistan in 2013 that the problem of enforced disappearances not only exists but that, according to some of their sources, more than 14,000 persons remained disappeared. Thus, BVA’s and others’ recommendation, calling for the return of disappeared persons and the prosecution of perpetrators, has not been implemented. Centre for Gender Justice and Women Empowerment (ECOSOC NGO) and other organisations have been continuously raising the issues of Enforced disappearances during the Human rights council Sessions. Following is one of the written statements.
United Nations A/HRC/51/NGO/221
General Assembly Distr.: General XX August 2022
English only
Human Rights Council
Fifty-first session
12 September–7 October 2022
Agenda item 4
Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention
Written statement* submitted by Centre for Gender Justice and Women Empowerment, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status
The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.
[21 August 2022]
Balochistan: Human Rights Overview Month of July 2022 :
In the month of July, 46 people were forcibly disappeared by the Pakistani army, 28 of them were released after torture, while 18 are still forcibly missing.11 persons were killed in custody, of which seven persons were identified by their relatives who had already been forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces. Two people were killed and 6 were seriously injured in the violent actions of Pakistani forces. Pakistani army’s paid target killers ‘publicly killed’ a Baloch refugee in Afghanistan*1. While a refugee in Azerbaijan died under mysterious circumstances, the family members expressed fears that the cause of his death could be murder *2. Custodial killings Last month, a new chapter was added regarding custodial killings of forcedly disappeared person, although this is not the first incident where Pakistani law enforcement
agencies killed forcibly disappeared persons in fake encounters. Earlier, in several incidents, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the police under the Pakistan Army had killed many forcibly disappeared persons in fake encounters. But it has happened for the first time that in immediate response to the action of a Baloch pro freedom organization, 11 forcibly disappeared people were killed in custody and termed them as attackers*3. On the intervening night of July 12 and 13, Lt. Col. Laeiq Baig Mirza, a high-ranking Pakistani army officer, was abducted and shot dead. Which was the result of the ongoing war of independence in Balochistan between the Baloch forces and the Pakistani army. In response to the killing of Pakistan Army officer the military killed 11 forcibly disappeared persons in their custody and held them responsible for the said incident. Among the victims of extra judicial custodial killing, 4 of them are yet to be recognized and 7 of them are recognized namely: •Mohammad Khan Chilgari Marri: He was forcibly disappeared by security forces from Harnai in February 2022. •Juma Khan Marri : He was forcibly disappeared in March 2022, by security forces. •Salim Karim Bakhsh, resident of Balgatar. He was also forcibly disappeared by security forces on 17 April 2022 in front of several eyewitnesses. •Shehzad Khuda Bakhsh, resident of Kalat. He was forcibly disappeared on June 04, 2022, by security forces. •Dr Mukhtiar Abdul Hai, resident of Kalat. He was forcibly disappeared on 11 June 2022 by security forces. •Shah Bakhsh Marri: He was forcibly disappeared in 2013, by security forces. •Shams Satakzai, He was forcibly disappeared by security forces in 2017. After the Ziarat tragedy, the claims of the government and the lack of interest and non-cooperation of the state institutions in identifying the persons killed in custody have made the identity of the persons killed in this fake encounter doubtful. One of these bodies was identified as ‘Engineer Zaheer Baloch’. According to Engineer Zaheer Baloch’s Sister Uzma Baloch her brother Engineer Zaheer Baloch was forcibly disappeared on 07 October 2021 by the Pakistani Army personnel from the airport road Quetta where his office ‘Smart ways Consultancy Pvt Ltd’ is located. On 19 July 2022, his sister Uzma Baloch confirmed the martyrdom of her brother. State Minister Zia Langau also confirmed the death of all the above-mentioned persons including Zaheer in his press conference and termed them as ‘terrorists’. After Zia Longau’s press conference and the killing of the forcibly disappeared persons in a fake contest, the families of the forcibly disappeared persons have been protesting at various places in Quetta for several weeks. The government announced the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the ‘Ziarat Tragedy’ after protests by the relatives. Hence then the military establishment mobilized and in Balochistan, military backed death squad operatives staged protests against the Judicial Commission. Ironically, the worrisome aspect of this whole situation is that On July 29, 2022, from the house of Noor Ahmad Bangulzahi, the leader of the death squad and Pakistan Peoples Party’s Balochitsn chapter: “Engineer Zaheer came to the fore.” Noor Ahmad Bangulzahi, representing the Pakistan Army, alleged that the claim of Enforced Disappearance of Engineer Zaheer was false, He had voluntarily left home to go to Europe and was imprisoned in Iran. However, Engineer Zaheer’s name is not included in the list of people deported from Iran, nor Engineer Zaheer is allowed to move freely. Rather, he is still in the custody of the state death squad. In this regard, Baloch civil society
representatives have expressed concerns and demands to ensure that there is no pressure on Engineer Zaheer’s family and he can move like a free citizen. His statement in death squad custody should be inspected and at the same time, the DNA test of the deceased who was buried as Engineer Zaheer should be done. In addition, we support the demands of the families of the forcibly disappeared, and request human rights organizations to put pressure and request human rights organizations to put pressure A/HRC/51/NGO/221 3 on Pakistan to accept the demands of the families “Formation of judicial commission on Ziarat tragedy, safe release of all forcibly disappeared persons and the families of the forcibly disappeared persons should be assured that no detained person will be targeted in fake encounters.” The mysterious death of a Baloch refugee abroad and the declared murder of another Baloch refugee Saqib Karim died in mysterious and unclear circumstances in Azerbaijan. According to the death certificate of Saqib Karim issued on July 13, 2022 by the Ministry of Justice in Baku, he died on July 8, 2022. According to the certificate, he died due to drowning. And his death has been declared as ‘non-fatal’. But his brother Faisal Karim and Baloch National Movement have expressed their concerns on this certificate. Faisal Karim has told BBC Urdu that although the police there have declared my brother’s death an accident, we want UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency) and their government should conduct a comprehensive investigation into his death from all aspects, because this is not the first incident of this type. Earlier, Baloch journalist Sajid Hussain was killed by drowning in Sweden and Banuk Karima in Canada. Experts say that killing by drowning in water destroys the evidence of murder and in the absence of evidence, the police declare the murder to be an accidental death. Flood Disasters and Irresponsibility of Administration Balochistan is a region in the world that is badly affected by climate change. While construction projects designed for foreign interests in Balochistan also lead to diversion of flood and rainwater towards the population. CPEC is also included in the list of these small and large projects that have laid a network of roads across Balochistan but neglected the interest of the local population and the natural flow of rivers*4. Due to which the infrastructure in Balochistan has been badly damaged in the irregular rains and agricultural lands, crops, gardens, livestock and plantations have been irreparably damaged. In the recent flood situation, the residents of Gwarast, Girishag, District Khuzdar have also held a protest against the CPEC. They say that we had requested the relevant authorities to increase the height of the bridge at the time of construction on the CPEC route, but their demands were not accepted, due to which the non-standard bridge could not withstand the flow of water. Which resulted the flow of water turned towards the population due to which the entire village inundated with flood water. Local people say that if it was not daytime, many human lives could have been lost due to non-evacuation of the population in time. Tertij a village in district Awaran is also a prominent example where CPEC route M-8 passes through agricultural lands. The construction of this road also neglected the flow of water which resulted in inundation of several villages due to the recent unprecedented monsoon rains. According to reports, 202 people have died and 66 have been injured due to floods in Balochistan, about 665 kilometers of roads have been washed away, 13 bridges have been affected, 2431 solar panels became
disabled, 706 livestock have died, 16 dams have been affected, crops standing on 197,930 hectares have been washed away, 11,775 houses have been damaged. Of these, 8,874 houses were partially damaged while 2,901 houses were completely destroyed *5. The international organizations should also evaluate that the construction of infrastructures and dams under the CPEC does have any role in increasing the current flood situation in Balochistan? It should be investigated that large dams cause floods when it rains, but when there are no rains, they are unable to meet the needs of a few cities with small populations in Balochistan. Not evacuating the population in time, not taking emergency safety measures for travellers and not providing timely assistance to the victims are prominent examples of mismanagement that has led to the increase in death tolls in the current flood situation that is why we term this state of affair as ‘The disaster of state mismanagement’.
A/HRC/51/NGO/221 4
1.https://www.satp.org/terrorism-update/baloch-refugee-allegedly-shot-dead-by-pakistani[1]intelligence-agencies-in-nimruz-province 2.https://www.newsintervention.com/pakistan-murders-saqib-baloch-in-azerbaijan/ 3.https://theprint.in/world/human-rights-council-of-balochistan-raise-concerns-over-killings-of-missing-persons-in-fake-encounters-by-pakistani-agencies/1047688/ 4.https://www.indianarrative.com/world-news/floods-in-gwadar-port-city-make-mockery-of-chinas- ambitious-cpec-30196.html 5.https://nation.com.pk/2022/08/18/death-toll-from-monsoon-rains-floods-in-balochistan-rises-to- 202
- Question raised by Germany in the previous cycle is yet awaiting a response “ How is the Pakistan tackling the persisting issue of enforced disappearances and would it consider including enforced disappearances as a specific crime into the Pakistan Penal Code, and to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances?”.
The Pakistani Commission of Inquiry on Enforced disappearances, which was established in 2010 and had located 982 missing persons by 2016, has failed, so far, to solve 1,273 cases of enforced disappearances. The UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances concluded after their visit to Pakistan in 2013 that the problem of enforced disappearances not only exists but that, according to some of their sources, more than 14,000 persons remained disappeared. Thus, BVA’s and others’ recommendation, calling for the return of disappeared persons and the prosecution of perpetrators, has not been implemented.
BVA and CGJWE submissions to Human Rights Council had already raised alarms on CPEC projects.
The Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on the Peoples in Pakistan and China is an economic model based on dumping massive development projects without free, prior and informed consent (guarenteed by the UN’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in a General Comment in 2021). We also highlighted the phenomenon of debt traps being deployed on the Pakistani via foreign investment approved by the central government in a letter to the President Human Rights Council.
The military continues to execute these projects, crushing dissent in some cases by arrested or making community leaders objecting to the projects disappear. The military is omnipresent in Pakistan’s economic and political life. Often land is afforded to the military at a fraction of market cost for it to exploit, such as the 17,000 acres in Sindh, or they will involve themselves in the building of the infrastructural projects. Of particular significance in the close relationship they have with the Chinese Communist Party and their Belt and Road initiative, with this source of foreign investment being prioritised over the concerns of the local people.
Too often it is Pakistan’s minorities that are subject to the negative externalities of the projects, including environmental degration. The Diamer dam in Gilgit-Baltistan rendered entire swathes of the land uninhabitable. Water shortages are common in the Sindh province, due to the creation of reservoirs more upstream than the Indus River’s natural flow.
Death Penalty:
BVA regrets the Pakistani Government’s decision to lift the moratorium on the death penalty in December 2014, which also contravenes repeated recommendations by many states. Persons belonging to religious or ethnic minorities, again, are bearing the brunt of the deterioration in Pakistan’s respect for human dignity. For one, the death penalty is frequently imposed in cases of alleged violations of the country’s highly dubious blasphemy laws; in 2020, 200 blasphemy cases were registered in Pakistan. 2
Administration of Justice and the Rule of Law:
Inadequate regulations in Pakistan’s Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), such as Section173 CPC, which precludes superior police officials from ordering the filing of First Information Reports on criminal complaints, reinforce impunity of perpetrators of enforced disappearances, by forcing victims’ families to take the cumbersome route through the court system to avail themselves of a second instance. Hence, Pakistan has not implemented numerous state recommendations2 directed at improving access to redress against rights violations and criminal acts committed against them.
3. Sections 54 and 151 CPC give police the authority to arrest without a warrant persons suspected of having committed a criminal offence and persons “designing” to commit a “cognisable” offence. Pakistan did, therefore, not comply with 2012 recommendation made by many organizations to revise legislation allowing police to detain individuals without clearly defined charges.
4. The 2004 Criminal Law (Amendment) Act that specifically criminalised honour killings in Pakistan’s Penal Code, according to CERD, which also stresses the vulnerability of minority women to the crime, has been “not dissuasive”, as an estimated 1,000 honour killings have been taking place in Pakistan each year. As per HRCP report In the Year 2021, 470 cases of Honour Killings were registered in Pakistan. While such legislation does not appear to have a deterring effect, perpetrators have been known to be arrested, however, followed by chilling debates in the general about whether such actions would be justified, leaving Sweden’s first cycle recommendation partially implemented.
5. Art. 20 of the Pakistani Constitution provides a worrying description of the individual’s right to freely practice a religion, starting with the restrictions that may be imposed on the right, such as the blasphemy laws, instead of with the right itself. This approach must be considered particularly alarming as it “[protects] beliefs over individuals”.
Pakistan, therewith, violates basic principles of international human rights protection and has made no effort whatsoever to comply with numerous state recommendations. Except for Sindh, where in February 2016 the
provincial assembly passed a law that finally recognises Hindu marriages, all other provinces do not give legal effect to marriages according to Hindu tradition.
Pakistan has not implemented measures to prevent violence against minorities, as recommended by Canada.
Right to Development and Environmental Issues:
Besides the severe environmental impact on the fragile environment of Gilgit-Baltistan, the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha megadam, due to which the Sost dryport – a major employer in the region – is being moved away from the occupied
territory, increases the unequal access to economic development in the region. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), further, is being violently implemented against the express will of the local indigenous population.
9. While Sindh can be considered as the powerhouse of CPEC, with ten out of eighteen coal power projects located in the province, the collateral air pollution and the government’s secrecy have been strongly criticised by experts; not only have Sindhi stakeholders not been involved at any stage of the project, nor has the government revealed the financial and implementation details to the parliament. The plight of the Baloch people, in turn, is due to land grabs and enforced displacement of local communities to make way for military camps or CPEC-related projects. Gawadar has been made a no go area for the Baloch People , surrounded by military check posts. And the people are continuously protesting for water and other basic facilities.
“There have been protests in the city before – but not on this scale. The demonstrations in December involved men, women, and children from Sind and many regions along the Makran coast. The size of the protests made it difficult for the authorities to contain the situation purely through coercive measures, despite their deployment of more than 5,000 additional police officers to Gwadar.
China’s projects have not provided local employment as expected. And Chinese trawlers have depleted the fish stocks that many in Balochistan rely on for their livelihoods. China has not fulfilled its promises to build a vocational training centre, a desalinisation plant, and a hospital in Gwadar (although it has constructed an emergency medical centre there). The economic activity China generated in Gwadar has largely benefited Chinese firms and workers, leading many locals to feel a deep sense of hostility towards Beijing and a Pakistani government they regard as complicit in their exploitation.” 4
Human Rights and Counter Terrorism:
Canada in Cycle 2 made a recommendation “Take steps to bring to justice those who have threatened, or attacked human rights defenders, children, and others who are working to promote democracy and accountability in Pakistan” yet awaiting a response what steps have been taken in this regard. 1
Overall this paints a sorry picture of the state of neglect particularly Baloch, and Sindhi people in Pakistan have and the overall failure of its federal model to involve key stakeholders. With the above in mind, we submitted the following recommendations to the Pakistani government.
Recommendations:
Given the above-mentioned human rights situation in Pakistan, BVA urges the Government of Pakistan to consider the following recommendations:
1. To fulfil the accepted UPR previous cycle recommendations to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; to specifically criminalize enforced disappearances in the penal code and to reinforce the capacities of the country’s Inquiry Commission on Enforced Disappearances to ensure perpetrators are identified and prosecuted.
2. To revise laws that give a broad mandate to police forces to arrest and detain suspects without clearly defined charges, including the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997
3. To ensure the exercise of all human rights to religious minorities with no discrimination, in compliance with the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.
4. Allow for an international fact-finding mission to Pakistan to assess the state’s practices of illegal occupation of land, underground and surface water issues, seawater intrusion, and water appropriations through the construction of megastructures on the River Indus in Sindh and Balochistan.
5. Ensure the participation of minorities and indigenous people in all spheres of national life, including through procedures that uphold their rights to self-determination, including the right to free-prior and informed consent over land development projects.
6. Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the land expropriation policies in Pakistan, including an investigation of individual instances, such as the situation of indigenous people in Sindh (100’s villages) who are displaced under the Bahria Town Development Schemes and many more military-owned housing schemes in Sindh.
7. Conduct a commission of inquiry into internationally-funded development projects, such as the China- Pakistan Economic Corridor, including participation from all affected communities to determine how such projects can be better managed in the future.
8. Provide adequate means of redress for communities who have been subjected to illegal expropriation or who have been inadequately compensated for expropriation, including through the return of lands to those who have been subjected to forced relocation following expropriations subsequently ruled illegal.
9. Conduct fulsome environmental impact assessments of development projects, cease the construction of mega projects in fragile environments, specifically in Gilgit-Baltistan and on and around the Indus River in Sindh province, which could potentially harm the biodiversity and the people of the regions.
10. Allocate the development funds it receives for infrastructure and land projects to provide upgraded water and sewer irrigation systems that do not let harmful toxins or waste flow into the natural groundwater surrounding development projects, such as in Sindh.
11.Take measures to strengthen the public health system, particularly in Sindh, where people are predominantly affected by air and water pollution, in line with the commitment during the 3 rd cycle to “allocate sufficient resources to strengthen public health, aiming to provide affordable and quality basic medical services.”
12. Ensure freedom of expression and assembly is respected by refraining from excessive use of force against protesters, particularly journalists, students, activists and community members of the Sindh and the Baluch.
1 https://upr-info-database.uwazi.io/en/entity/msml1ad76p?searchTerm=pakistan
2 https://www.ucanews.com/news/pakistan-reports-spike-in-blasphemy-cases-in-2020/94083
3 https://tribune.com.pk/story/2362923/ihc-grills-commission-for-inquiry-on-enforced-disappearances
4 https://ecfr.eu/article/corridor-to-nowhere-the-gwadar-protests-and-the-pakistan-china-relationship/