KARACHI, March 24: Human rights activists has demanded that the provincial coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Akhtar Baloch, who was “picked up by a government agency” in Hyderabad on Sunday evening be released immediately.
Speaking at Karachi Press Club on Monday, a former chief of the HRCP, Asma Jehangir, and the HRCP director, I. A. Rehman, said when they approached the police, they were informed that “Mr Baloch has not been kidnapped by any private individual.”
They said the HRCP had expressed concern during the launch of its annual report that there was an increasing trend of harassment and intimidation of human rights activists. They said on Sunday, after the conclusion of the HRCP’s annual general body meeting and an anti-war rally in Hyderabad, Mr Baloch was “picked up” in a dubious manner.
They said the activist was forcibly stopped by a motorcyclist and was pulled out of the HRCP vehicle. Two men riding in a white Suzuki jeep (E 0125) pounced on Mr Baloch, started beating him and pushed him into their vehicle, threatened the HRCP driver not to follow their tinted-glass vehicle and drove away.
They claimed they had been contacting every government department and agency in the provincial as well the federal capital to know the whereabouts of their abducted colleague, but they were not getting any reply. They feared that the activist might be killed.
They said they had been “advised” not to mention anybody or any agency’s name “irresponsibly.”
“When Mr Baloch can be ‘kidnapped’ in a Gestapo-like action on a busy road, Thandi Sarak, in the centre of the second biggest city of the province in broad daylight, what would be happening to people living in remote rural areas,” they said.
They said HRCP members had been harassed in different manners in the past also, but this was the first time a person had been “kidnapped,” which showed “the attitude of the government and its agencies towards the citizens.”
They claimed they had received threats that if they did not behave they should remember what happened to Rana Sanaullah, a member of the Punjab provincial assembly, who was kidnapped and brutally manhandled.
“While there has been no express denial that Mr Baloch has been picked up by one of the several federal agencies, no one was able to identify the particular agency, nor is the government willing to take any responsibility for locating the abducted person, which proves that the agencies are not accountable to the government and have lost respect for the rights of the people.
“We have had offered many a time in the past to the government and its various agencies that if they wanted to have any information they could approach the high HRCP officials and office-bearers, and they should not harass workers and members of the organization,” they said.
They claimed since they and HRCP members had been raising their voice against the violations of human rights, they expected such illegal acts to be committed against them.
“A civilian administration is in office now, but it is so scared that it cannot even name the government agencies which has been carrying out these illegal acts,” they said.
They demanded that Mr Baloch be released immediately and a high-level inquiry be instituted into the matter. They said they would continue to campaign for his release and would use all forums in support of his right to liberty.
