ISLAMABAD, Jan 13: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar has asked Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights Chairman Senator S M Zafar to arrange a visit of the committee members to the troubled Dera Bugti area in Balochistan. In a letter to Mr Zafar, the senator said the committee members should be taken to Dera Bugti for an on-the-spot investigation into the allegations of violation of human rights of innocent victims in crossfire incidents.

Mr Babar said the gravity and urgency of the matter demanded that the visit to Dera Bugti should be arranged at the earliest.

In his letter, Mr Babar said there were “reports of human rights violations in parts of Balochistan, particularly in Dera Bugti, allegedly at the hands of (law-enforcement) agencies personnel.”

“Last week a very graphic and painful description of rights violations also appeared on a website, apparently placed by a sitting senator, Sanaullah Baloch, on behalf of the Balochistan National Party,” he said.

“On Sunday (January 8), a team of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, led by its chairperson Asma Jehangir, was fired upon while on its way to Dera Bugti to investigate the allegations of human rights violations,” he said, adding that “the circumstances surrounding the incident are clouded in a mystery raising questions whether Balochistan is being sealed to those wishing to probe”.

Mr Babar asked the committee chairman to arrange the visit before the three opposition members of the committee requisitioned the meeting. “Notable NGOs, media and individuals concerned may also be considered for invitation to attend the (requisitioned) meeting,” the letter said.