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Urgent appeal issued by Asian Human Rights Commission about the developing humanitarian crisis in Balochistan province of Pakistan.
July 27, 2006
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through international and national media as well a through local social and political groups of Pakistan that the Pakistan Army is conducting military operations in Balochistan, the southern province of Pakistan.
Though this has been ongoing since 2001, since December 2005 the military government of Pakistan has been conducting aerial bombings in several parts of the province. During this period the army has conducted about 12 bombardments and have killed more than 300 people.
The areas that are continuously under fire are Sibi, Hernai, Much, Kohlo, Dera Bugti, Sabsilla, Bhambhoor, Loti, Dhaman, Pir Koh, Spin, Tangi, Babar Kach, Tandori and Sangan. The BBC and other newspapers have quoted the local people and elected representatives of the provincial assembly and Senate as saying that about four F16 fighter jets, gunships and helicopters have been used in the bombardments on the civilian population.
In fact the Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force actually admitted to the aerial bombardment in Balochistan.
Due to the military operations and aerial bombardments the local population have been forced to migrate to safer parts of Balochistan as well as to the nearby borders of Sindh and Punjab provinces. The military have cordoned off Hernai area for the past several days making it impossible for people to come and go. As a result the people are without food, medicines and drinking water. The area where people have taken leave from are predominantly Mach, Kohlo, Usta Mohamad, Sibi, Dera Bugti and some parts of Hanai. The two district provinces of Sibi and Bolan are the worst affected areas of military operations as well as the aerial bombardment.
These two districts cover more than 500 kilometres. The displaced are now settled in other areas such as Dera Murad, Jamali, Quetta, Khuzdar, Hub in Balochistan and Kashmore, Jackob Abad and the border areas of Larkana district in Sindh Province. In Pubjab Province they have taken shelter in Dera Ghazi Khan district near Usta Mohammad village of Balochistan.
According to newspaper reports the displaced are living in terrible conditions with no safe drinking water. According to a report published in the daily Dawn "It is unclear how many Bugti displaced people (DPs) actually poured into neighbouring cities and towns following the outbreak of hostilities between the warring tribesmen and the law-enforcement agencies in the early summer of last year. The Dera Bugti Nazim, Kazim Bugti, puts the number of DPs at over a hundred thousand. His assertions about the involvement of army helicopters in Dera Bugti military operations lend credence to the claims of the DPs. The accusation is stoutly denied by the government, however".
The displaced have to carry water from at least one to three kilometers away. No medical help is being provided to them. The are mostly children and women suffering from diarrhea, dehydration, malaria and high fevers. Some cases of deaths have been reported but not confirmed by any hospitals.
The local people in these areas where displaced persons are settled, are not allowed by the intelligence agencies of Pakistan Army to help refugees. Edhi center, a local charitable organisation, has been stopped by the Pakistan Military from providing medical assistance to the affected people and from making medical camps in refugee settled areas. The main persons from Edhi center were summoned to Pakistan's capital, Islam Abad by the Military intelligence and were ordered to stop medical assistance to the victims.
According to the daily Dawn the displaced are lying in the open skies in summer where temperature remains at 38 to 44 degrees centigrade. The conditions of the displaced are deteriorating day by day and urgent help is needed through from international organisations working for the rehabilitation of refugees and displaced persons.
Additional information:
Balochistan is the most under developed province of Pakistan. Balochistan has in fact very rich mineral resources. However, all the resources in the province are controlled by the federal government and no royalty or compensation has been paid to people in Balochistan. Also, the country's most populous province, Punjab, is controlling the military, the administration and utilitieses of all the resources. In addition, the government has provided little resources towards social welfare in comparison with other provinces. People in Balochistan blame the federal government for their plight and point out that the benefits derived from the province's natural wealth have not been returned to it.
This province is the richest in natural resources, including gold, silver, copper, oil, natural gas, iron ore and uranium. It supplies natural gas to the whole of the country yet three quarters of the province does not have the access to natural gas. Sui is the area from where natural gas is being supplied but the military of Pakistan wants to keep its control, as a result of which Sui is the worst affected area of military operations. The Government of Pakistan pays a meager 5% of the total income from natural resources as royalty to Balochistan.
Baloch people also suffer from great poverty. According to the Karachi-based Social Policy and Development Centre (SPDC), poverty levels in Balochistan are the highest in the country. Every second person in Balochistan lives below the poverty line. Only 50 percent of the province's seven million people have access to clean drinking water, only half the children attend primary schools and only a third of children between 12 and 23 months are immunised, according to the SPDC.
This is the 5th time since the creation of the country that the Pakistan Army has conducted military operations and aerial bombardments resulting in the deaths of more than 12,000 people. Several people were hanged and thousands of people migrated to other parts of the country. Since the military operation from 2001 about one thousand people have been killed and according to the statement of Mr. Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Federal Minister for Interior Affairs more than 4000 people have been arrested from Balochistan since the beginning of 2005. Despite this, until now only 200 people have been produced before any court and the Ministry of Interior has failed to produce the names of those arrested. The Balochi resistance groups and political parties are claiming that more than 1000 people have disappeared since their arrest. The intelligence agencies such as the I.S.I, Military intelligence (M.I.), along with the Intelligence Bureau (I.B), the Navy Intelligence, the Pak Rangers Intelligence, and the Central intelligence Agency of Pakistan (CIAP) are operating very actively. The Police department is also not allowed to go in the torture camps of these with out the permission from military authorities.
SAN-Feature Service
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