KARACHI: Pakistan’s new defence minister yesterday vowed to solve within weeks the controversial issue of “missing persons” in the southwestern province of Baluchistan who are allegedly held by security services.
Khawja Asif said after a Supreme Court hearing in Karachi that 738 people had been located and others would be found soon. The court has been investigating cases in Baluchistan, where the military and intelligence agencies have been accused of rights violations in their bid to end a separatist insurgency.
Asif’s comments came a day after he was appointed defence minister and are a rare intervention from a senior government figure on the topic — the security services are often deemed untouchable in Pakistan. “This (recovery of missing persons) is our responsibility and now it would not take years or months but it is a matter of few weeks,” he said. Baluchistan, the least developed province, is in the grip of a separatist insurgency and rebels regularly attack forces.
Rights groups accuse the military and intelligence agencies of kidnapping and killing suspected Baluch rebels before leaving their bodies by the roadside.
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 300 people have suffered this fate, known as “kill and dump”, in Baluchistan since January 2011. Last year the Supreme Court quizzed lawyers for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) over missing persons in the province.
AFP
