Balochistan: Baloch families accuse Pakistani forces of desecrating corpses of Baloch fighters

QUETTA: A large number of Baloch women and children staged a protest at Turbat Press Club against the hasty burial of the copses of two Baloch sarmachaars (freedom fighters) by Pakistani forces and accused them of desecrating the dead bodies.

 The relatives of Shaheed Irfan Baloch and Shaheed Noor Khan Baloch along with Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Makuran chapter coordinator Ghani Parwaz held a crowded press conference at Turbat Press Club in district Kech Balochistan on Wednesday and demanded the dead bodies of two Baloch sarmachaars killed in a gun battle against Pakistani forces should be handed over to their families for paying their last respect and performing Islamic rituals.

Shehla Mustafa, the sister Irfan Baloch said that through this press conference they wanted to inform the civilised world, national and international human rights organisation about the ‘cruel and brutal’ actions of the Pakistan army.

“I am, the daughter of Shaheed Ghulam Mustafa Pakistan army killed my father along with another ten Baloch On May 25, 2013, after a complete boycott of Pakistani election by people of Balochistan.

“After that one may occasion the Pakistan Army set fire to all our family houses including mine, there were times that we were forced to spend several days and night under the open sky without any food and water because even a glass of drinking was not spared in our homes.”

Talking about the recent killing of her brother along with another Baloch sarmachar she said, “On September 28, my brothers Irfan Baloch and Noor Khan Baloch were martyred by the Pakistan Army [in a gun battle]. We went to the Tump (WAPDA Grade) Army Camp on the morning of September 29 to receive the dead bodies but the Army treated us with great contempt and made us wait till the evening. Then we were told to come at ten o’clock at night and take the corpses of the martyrs.

 “We waited in front of the camp all night but we were not given the bodies and the military personnel repeatedly behaved with us in an abusive manner, kept abusing us, they tried to harass us in every possible way but we refused to leave without the dead bodies of our loved ones.”

Despite sitting all night, she said, the army did not give us the dead bodies. Then we asked the regional authorities to talk to the army. When the regional officials spoke to the army, the officials were told that they would find the bodies tomorrow, September 30. The next morning [September 30] we went to collect the bodies, we found that the bodies of Irfan Jan and Noor Khan had been dumped a pit, dug out by a tractor, without performing the last rites and funeral rituals.”

She said that they were not as saddened by the martyrdom of our loved ones as they were by the desecration of their corpses. “This state [Pakistan] calls itself an Islamic and democratic. What kind of Islamic law is that which allows the state forces to drag and desecrate inanimate bodies? In this state, dead bodies are desecrated and dumped into pits dug by tractors instead of humans. Neither Islam nor human values allow these actions.”

She maintained, “We believe that this is the extreme hatred of Pakistan against the Baloch nation which is manifesting itself in the form of such inhumane acts. The situation now is that where our loved ones were buried in pits dug by tractors, the army has deployed its personnel around their graves and we are not allowed to even recite the Fatiha (condolences).

“Through this press conference and media, we want to make it clear that there is no reason why our loved ones should not be handed over  to us unless the Pakistani forces used chemical weapons to  kill them and either their bodies have been burnt and tortured or desecrated in one way or other that is why Pakistani forces want to conceal their crimes against humanity.”

 She said that recently the bodies of another two Baloch youths in the Gichak area of Balochistan were buried in the same fashion by the so-called Islamic army instead of handing them over to their heirs.

We appeal to the national and international human rights bodies to conduct an autopsy on the bodies under their supervision. If they cannot do so, they will allow us to exhume the bodies and bury them according to Baloch traditional manner and perform funeral rites.

She reiterated that until the bodies of our martyrs are handed over to us, our peaceful protest at Shaheed Fida Baloch Chowk will continue and we appeal to our friends of humanity from all over the world to come forward in our support for the sake of humanity and human values.

In a separate statement, human rights activists, from Karachi announced to hold a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Friday (today) against not handing over the dead bodies of the two Baloch youth to their loved ones. They said that 48 hours have passed but the Pakistani forces have still not handed over the dead bodies.