Families forced to disown 'militant' kin in Balochistan, rights body calls it state persecution

Quetta, Sep 21 (IANS) A human rights body has strongly condemned the recent directive from the Balochistan government that compelled families to submit sworn affidavits disowning relatives accused of "militancy", under threat of "criminal prosecution, confiscation of property, and withdrawal of state benefits".

"This order constitutes collective punishment in direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. By seeking to criminalise entire families for the alleged actions of individuals, the state is not only violating the principles of individual responsibility and due process but is also engaging in a policy that bears the hallmarks of a crime against humanity," read a statement issued by the Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB).

According to the HRCB, the directive is particularly abhorrent in how it treats the families of victims of enforced disappearance.

The rights body asserted that forcing families to report to Pakistan's Army and Frontier Corps -- the very institutions credibly accused of carrying out enforced disappearances across Balochistan constitutes an act of "deliberate humiliation, coercion, and psychological torture".

Such measures, the HRCB said, further entrench impunity for grave violations while shifting the burden of responsibility from the Pakistani authorities to the victims themselves.

The rights body urged the international community, the United Nations human rights mechanisms, and legal experts to unequivocally denounce this "draconian and unlawful policy."

"It is imperative that this measure be recognised for what it is: a blatant violation of Pakistan's obligations under international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention Against Torture (CAT)," the HRCB stated.

The rights body also emphasised that rather than persecuting families and institutionalising collective punishment, the Pakistani Government must be held accountable for "ending enforced disappearances, ensuring due process, and upholding the rule of law in Balochistan".

"Anything less perpetuates a cycle of repression that may amount to state-sanctioned persecution of an entire population," the HRCB added.

People from Balochistan are currently fighting for their independence from Pakistan.

Various human rights organisations of Balochistan have time and again highlighted the repression by Pakistani forces in the province, which includes violent raids on the homes of Baloch leaders and civilians, unlawful arrests, enforced disappearances, the 'kill and dump' policy, detention under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, and the filing of fabricated police cases.

--IANS

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