LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has condemned the murder of 14 people including 11 security personnel near Ormara, Balochistan, while travelling from Karachi to Gwadar.

The HRCP in a press release said it is “shocked at the calculated way in which these passengers were identified by their identity cards, forcibly offloaded from buses by gunmen impersonating security personnel, and killed in cold blood.

“That the three organisations who claimed responsibility for the attack have said openly that they were targeting security personnel, is a tragic reminder that militancy and wanton violence have not been rooted out of Balochistan, despite the province being heavily militarised for so long. It is not enough that these organisations are banned or that the state has expressed its outrage and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. Nor is it acceptable to mark this down to what the provincial home minister has called ‘external elements’.”

“The HRCP calls on the state including all political parties in Balochistan to take a united and coherent stand condemning militant violence under any circumstances, and to protect and promote the political process as the only legitimate means of ensuring that all citizens and residents of the province are given their due rights.”

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2019