Security forces detain chief of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in crackdown on Balochistan rally

Pakistani security forces briefly detained Asad Iqbal Butt, the head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on July 25. The human rights leader was taken from his home in Karachi and threatened against participation in a scheduled rally called to oppose the enforced disappearances and human rights violations in Balochistan.

Karachi police raided Asad Iqbal Butt’s home on Thursday afternoon and took him to the nearby police station where he was apparently interrogated related to his possible participation in the rally on July 28.

HRCP issued a statement calling Asad Iqbal Butt’s detention “arbitrary” and demanding his “immediate and unconditional” release. “HRCP believes that this measure is an intimidation tactic designed to stifle the voice of human rights defenders” the Commission stated.

Butt was released in the evening after several of his comrades went to the police station and protested his detention, Dawn reported.

The HRCP has been vocal in its support of the cause of enforced disappearances and human rights violations across the country, and has defended Mahrang Baloch, the leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) and her peaceful movement for justice. BYC is the chief organizer of the rally to demand justice for all the victims of enforced disappearances and human rights violations, and also to demand accountability for the armed forces.

BYC also condemned the detention of Asad Iqbal Butt, calling the move “worrisome.”

“When state police unlawfully detain the chairperson of an independent human rights organization in a city like Karachi, one can only imagine the kind of oppression and tyranny the state military is involved in Balochistan, where there is neither media present nor internet,” said Baloch on Thursday.

BYC has also claimed that there is a large-scale crackdown of the state against the proposed rally. Some of its members have been arrested in raids in different parts of the country. The state is trying to prevent people from coming to the rally by threatening the transport companies and spreading fear of repercussions, BYC said in a press conference on July 24.

Nida Karmani, Pakistani activist and scholar, praised the BYC for raising the pertinent issue of enforced disappearance in Balochistan, despite facing “constant harassment and threats” from the state.

Enforced disappearances and human rights violations in Pakistan 

Enforced disappearances are a major political issue in Pakistan, which has been dominated by the military since its formation in 1947. Military and security forces in Pakistan have been accused of carrying out arbitrary killings or arrests of people, particularly in the peripheral provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan in the name of fighting terrorism and separatism.

The state-run Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED) has recorded over 10,000 enforced disappearances from across the country since 2011. KP tops the list with over 3,485 recorded enforced disappearances in the country followed by Balochistan with 2,752 enforced disappearances. The actual numbers could be much higher, according to activists.

Large scale demonstrations have been held against these enforced disappearances in both provinces. In KP, the Pakhtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) has been demanding accountability for the state ad compensation for the victims.

Balochistan saw a KP-like mass movement emerge under the leadership of Mahrang Baloch at the beginning of the year, with thousands participating in a month-long sit-in in Islamabad and later a long march in support of the demand for justice for the families of disappeared persons.

The problem of enforced disappearances, however, has not gone away despite large-scale protests in recent years. According to the COIED, over 197 fresh cases of enforced disappearances were recorded in the first six months of this year alone.

In an article in Dawn, Ms. Baloch asserts that Pakistani government officials have always been dismissive to the problem raised by the groups such as PTM and BYC, even “terming us foreign agents and terrorist sympathizers. This does not, however, change the fact that people are disappearing in Balochistan in the absence of any legal procedures.”