South Asia Terrorism Portal

PAKISTAN

Balochistan: The Land of Hopelessness
Sanchita Bhattacharya
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management

On December 8, two Baloch men were ‘forcibly disappeared’ by Security Forces (SFs) in two separate incidents in Kech District. While Sohail was 'forcibly disappeared’ from the Dazen area of Tump, Chakar went ‘missing’ after being arrested from his house during a raid by SFs in the Kohar area.

On November 22, four Baloch students were ‘forcibly disappeared’ around midnight during a house raid conducted by SFs in the Essa Nagri area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. The ‘missing’ students were identified as Kambar Lal Baloch, Waheed Sakhi, Rahmatullah, and Murad Jan. The students were preparing for the entry test for the medical college in Quetta.

On October 26, a Baloch man, Allah Noor was reportedly detained by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Pakistan. CTD raided his house in Mashkay in Awaran District and took him away. His whereabouts remain unknown.

On October 24, law enforcement personnel summoned a Baloch youth, Umar, to the Rinduk Frontier Corps (FC) camp in Kharan District. He went ‘missing’ thereafter.

On October 24, two Baloch brothers, Yusuf Badini and Parvaiz Badini, were forcibly abducted by FC personnel in Kharan District.

On September 6, SFs raided a house in the Gireshg area of Khuzdar District and abducted six men. SFs moved the detainees to an unknown location and there is no subsequent information regarding their condition and whereabouts.

According to the latest data of the Government of Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance (COIOED), it has recorded a total of 2,060 missing person cases from Balochistan. Of these, 1,456 persons have returned home, 35 dead bodies have been located, 17 persons are in prisons, and two are at Internment Centres. 203 cases have been “closed due to not being cases of enforced disappearances, incomplete address, withdrawal by complainants, non-prosecution. etc.”  

Scanning the data provided by COIOED on its website shows that, since 2000, at least 1,262 Baloch people have been ‘disappeared’, with the maximum number from Kech District-778; followed by Quetta-294; Awaran-223, Panjgur-95; Mustang-78; Khuzdar- 51; Nushki-48; and Hub-26. These numbers are, however, a stark underestimate, when compared with data extracted from news reports, as well as from non-government sources.

Significantly, Pakistan’s Federal Government constituted the COIOED in March 2011. The Commission’s mandate was, among other things, to “trace the whereabouts of allegedly enforced disappeared persons” and “fix responsibility on individuals or organizations responsible.” The COIED was preceded by a three-member judicial commission on enforced disappearances, which was constituted in April 2010 and submitted its final report to the Government in January 2011. The report was not made public.

The Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB) on December 7, released its report for November 2022, which documented the ‘disappearance’ of 35 persons in Balochistan during November 2022 alone. Of these, FC was responsible for the abduction of 31 persons, while the remaining four were abducted by unidentified gunmen. 13 persons were released after days of detention while the whereabouts of the remaining abductees is unknown. The report also noted that 42 Baloch persons were killed in November in extrajudicial killings. Of these, 22 were killed by SFs, 14 were targeted and killed, three including a woman were killed for honour, and two mutilated dead bodies were also found with no information about the agency responsible. No information was made available about the remaining one victim.

Meanwhile,  on June 17, 2022, Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah rightly asked the Deputy Attorney General during the hearing of a case of missing persons, why people were still being “picked up” and “What steps has the federal government taken and who is responsible?” During his remarks he ordered the government to investigate the cases of ‘missing’ people and said that it would be preferred if the chief executive of the country was present. Admonishing the Government, he observed, further, “You are proving that [forcibly] disappearing people has been the policy of the State since the days of General Musharraf. Someone is responsible for the period in which people go missing.”

The Freedom House Report of Pakistan, 2022, noted that the International Commission of Jurists, an international human rights organization, found the COIOED approach had enabled impunity by diverting attention away from the judicial process into an ad hoc process vulnerable to political interference. Also, it was mentioned in the report that the COIOED did not push for any disciplinary action against agencies known to be involved in enforced disappearances.

The untraced among the ‘disappeared’ Baloch are at risk of torture and death. Even if they are released, terrible physical and psychological scars endure. If they are killed, their family never recovers from their loss. ‘Forced disappearances’ are a tool of terror that strikes not just individuals or families, but the whole of Baloch society.

Significantly, the Khuzdar, Mastung, Awaran, Kech and Panjgur Districts are also notoriously associated with state-backed ‘Death Squads’ and their free use of violence against the Baloch. Sponsored and patronized by the Military Establishment in Pakistan, the ‘Death Squads’ act as a tool of repression against the Baloch quest for a separate political and ethnic identity. Other than Mastung, the remaining Districts lie to the extreme south of the province. Some of the infamous ‘leaders’ of the ‘Death Squads’ include: Zakaria M. Hassani, operating mainly in Khuzdar; Deen Mohammad in Awaran; Rashid Pathan, Sardar Aziz (along with his two sons Meeran Aziz and Shah Meer) and Mir Sameer Sabzal, in Kech; and Maqbool Shambezi in Panjgur.

Voice for Baloch Missing Persons [set up in 2009] has accused the state of operating these ‘Death Squads’ to abduct and kill suspected separatist sympathizers in the Province.

Moreover, a number of "fake encounters" have been reported in Balochistan where forces have killed missing persons, portraying them as insurgents and terrorists. The extrajudicial execution of 'missing persons' in staged encounters in Pakistan has a long history. In October, 2022, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed reservations concerning the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2022, which deals with widespread 'enforced disappearances' in the country. HRCP noted,

Despite the long-drawn saga of atrocity and violence, the people of Balochistan continue to raise their voices against such brutality. In one such recent incident, on November 8, 2022, a 26-day protest march of Baloch people culminated outside the Karachi Press Club, as 13 women and children suspectedly detained by Security Forces during the military operation in the Bolan area of Kachhi District in Balochistan were released a day earlier, on November 7. Protesting against this inhuman incident of detention and enforced disappearances of Baloch people, demonstrators described the entire region lying in southwestern Pakistan as ‘a torment camp’.

The people of Balochistan have been deprived of their basic dignity and right to life. The incidents of ‘enforced disappearances’ are a brutal and lawless exercise of power by agencies of the state, and no solution is visible in the foreseeable future. The Pakistani state continues with its harsh and repressive measures on the ground, and the common people face the brunt of its misdeeds.

INDIA

Jharkhand: Latehar - Crumbling Haven
Deepak Kumar Nayak
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On December 8, 2022, a cadre of the Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee (TSPC), a splinter group of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), identified as Raju Yadav alias Raju Ji, was arrested from Patratoli Forest near Nindir village in Latehar District. Yadav, a resident of Chetar village in the Chandwa area of the district, was the 'area commander' of the banned outfit and was wanted in nine criminal cases. A .303 rifle, 82 cartridges, two mobile phones and three SIM cards were recovered from his possession.

On November 29, 2022, two cadres of the Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad (JJMP), another splinter group of the CPI-Maoist, were arrested from an area near Tulbul Talab in Latehar District. The arrested cadres were identified as ‘sub-zonal commander’, Akash Singh alias Suraj Singh alias Sonu Singh, wanted in 10 cases in Ramgarh and Latehar Districts; and his associate Arun Kumar Prajapati. Police recovered a pistol, 12 bullets, an SUV vehicle and SIM cards from their possession.

On November 26, 2022, an ‘area commander’ of the TSPC, identified as Upendra Yadav, a resident of Bhadaibathan village under Manika Police Station area, was arrested in a raid in Jhabar village under the Balumath Police Station area of Latehar District.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 21 Naxalites (Left Wing Extremists) have been arrested in Latehar District since the beginning of the current year (data till December 18, 2022). During the corresponding period of 2021, 26 Naxalites had been arrested. No further arrests were made during the remaining days of 2021. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-linked incidents, to December 18, 2022; at least 239 Naxalites have been arrested in the district.

Further, one Naxalite has surrendered in Latehar in the current year (data till December 18, 2022). No surrender took place in the corresponding period of 2021, as well as through 2021. One surrender took place in 2020. Since 2000, at least 20 Naxalite have surrendered in the district.

Meanwhile, a total of six Naxalites have been killed in Latehar in the current year (data till December 18, 2022). During the corresponding period of 2021, one Naxalite was killed, while no more Naxalites were killed in the remaining period of 2021. Since 2000, a total of 116 Naxalites have been killed in the district. 

No SF fatality has been recorded in the current year, thus far (data till December 18, 2022). During the corresponding period of 2021, one trooper was killed. No fatality in this category was added in the remaining period of 2021. However, since 2000, a total of 75 SF personnel have been killed in the district. 

An analysis of the trend in fatalities data in the district since March 6, 2000, till December 18, 2022, suggests that the overall SF: Maoist kill ratio is in favour of the SFs at 1:1.54.

The last LWE-linked civilian killing was reported on March 12, 2021, when armed JJMP cadres shot dead a supervisor of a private firm, Vishnu Dev Singh, after he lodged a Police complaint against them for alleged extortion, near Bareini More in Latehar District. Strikingly, the trend in the civilian fatalities’ category has remained cyclical, and since 2011 has remained in single digits. A maximum of 17 such fatalities were recorded in 2011, while a low of one fatality was recorded on four occasions in 2005, 2015, 2018, and 2019. Since 2000, a total of 81 civilian fatalities have been recorded in the district. 

Though LWE activities have recorded a considerable decline, disruptive activities continue.

Two major incidents (involving three or more killings) have already been reported in 2022. Six incidents of exchange of fire between Naxalites and SFs have been recorded in 2022, the highest in year since 2016, when there were six incidents as well. 2013 also witnessed the same number of clashes. Of a total of 122 incidents of arms recovery recorded since 2000, 14 were reported in 2022. Two incidents of arson have also occurred in the current year.

On June 27, 2022, in a disturbing development, it was found that the Khalistani terrorist formation, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), was supplying arms to the Naxalites in Jharkhand. The development was established by the recovery of around 28 weapons during a combing operation in the Bulbul Forest on the Latehar-Lohardaga border. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case in this regard.

On July 23, 2022, 40 mm High Explosive Grenades was recovered by the Special Investigation Team from the Seerum Forest area in Balumath in Latehar. Superintendent of Police Anjani Anjan stated after the recovery,

Naxalites have long found Latehar a perfect location for a safe haven, as the district is under dense forest cover and its hilly terrain, covering an area of 3,651.59 square kilometres, with a forest cover of 2,245 square kilometres (approximately 61.48 per cent of its total area). Latehar shares borders with Palamu to its North, Chatra to its East, Lohardaga and Gumla Districts to the South, Garhwa to its North West – all Districts of Jharkhand; to its South West lies Surguja in Chhattisgarh. Naxalites find the district optimal for exploitation due to its proximity with other LWE-affected areas of Jharkhand, such as Chatra, Garhwa, Gumla, Lohardaga and Palamu, as well as to conflict areas in Chhattisgarh, the State currently the worst affected by LWE.

On November 11, 2022, the NIA filed a charge sheet against 11 persons, including two who had been arrested and nine absconding, in a case pertaining to the recovery of 13 rounds of 7.62 mm SLR (Self Loading Rifles), Naxal Literatures and other incriminating materials from a CPI-Maoist camp at Rud village in the hilly and forested area of Latehar District on September 1, 2017. The case was initially registered at Garu Latehar Police Station in Jharkhand before the NIA took over the probe in 2021. The NIA charge sheeted Prabhu Sao alias Prabhu Prasad Sao and Balram Oraon alias Balram, along with nine absconding accused identified as Chhotu Kherwar alias Sujit Kherwar, Ravinder Ganjhu alias Mukesh Ganjhu, Niraj Singh Kherwar, Mrityunjay Bhuiya, Pradeep Singh Kherwar alias Chero, Muneswar Ganjhu alias Munshi, Kajesh Ganjhu, Aghnu Ganjhu alias Aghnu, and Lajim Ansari alias Lajim Miya. The NIA noted,

Meanwhile, SFs are taking further steps to counter the residual threat from Naxalites in Latehar and surrounding areas.

On September 5, 2022, the Jharkhand Police’s domination over the CPI-Maoist stronghold of Burha Pahar, located in Latehar along the Garhwa District, was established after continuous operations against the extremists at various levels over the past two years. Operations included cutting off the LWEs financial flows and disrupting their supply chain. Burha Pahar was considered one of the impregnable fortresses of the Maoists, with its command remaining in the hands of top Maoists, including ‘central committee’ members Arvind Ji, Sudhakaran and Mithlesh Mehta, over the years. Police said the Maoist think tank used to gather at this location, to chalk out disruptive activities and also train squads to execute their plans in different States, including Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. A strong contingent of Maoists used to be present to take on the Police force conducting operations in this area. Significantly, the Naxalites are once again planning to make Burha Pahar a formidable launching pad of their violence in Latehar, Garhwa etc., as this Pahar (hill) is an interstate link between Latehar (Jharkhand) and Chhattisgarh. Indeed, on November 18, 2022, SFs engaged in anti-Naxalite operation detected 120 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by Naxalites in the Burha Pahar area in Latehar District. The IEDs were defused.

SF consolidation in Latehar, especially in the Burha Pahar area, their erstwhile safe haven, has been a big blow to the rebels. However, LWE elements with much of their operational capacity intact, are also making efforts to regain their areas of influence. It is, perhaps, time to explore opportunities of political resolution, along with increasing security pressure, to end the continuing battle in the region.