Missing persons

The Balochistan cabinet has tried to deal with the missing persons issue by making sure that no more take place. It seems to be a sort of request of the people to stop worrying about past disappearances on the assurance that there will be no more, that all the families of all those picked up would be informed within 24 hours, allowed visitation rights and provided medical facilities. Numerous court decisions guarantee the rights already, but the proposed Balochistan Prevention of Detention and Deradicalisation Act represents an official attempt to tackle a basic problem, and one of the most emotive charges against all previous and present governments, that it allowed secret agencies pick up suspects, and then make them disappear, with their families not knowing what had become of them. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti was right to tell the Cabinet that the issue affected all provinces, but he must recognize that the missing persons issue had bec ome peculiarly associated with his province, because of the protests which took place in the province because of it.

Originally a tool in the War on Terror, because of the forced disappearances of religious extremists, it had been extended to Baloch separatists. In a vicious cycle, the disappearances led to more turning to separatism, which in turn led to disappearances. Though there have been many forced disappearances in other provinces, Balochistan is the only one where there have been disappearances of other than religious militants. One of the principal defences of the disappearances is that supposedly disappeared persons have been killed in encounters with the law enforcing agencies, while many are apparently with armed groups on the run.

It could be argued that the Balochistan law merely admits that rights under the Constitution have been frequently violated, but that would ignore the reality that the Balochistan government is facing tremendous public pressure to tackle the problem. It should also be noted that the policy of forced disappearances is not working, and is now being followed merely to spare the blushes of a few officials. If the act makes a difference, it describes imitation by the other provinces, for though Balochistan has the focus, it is a national problem, and one that defies solution despite numerous court decisions and commissions being set up, though more than two decades have passed.