by Nilesh Kunwar

A Gory Discovery

On January 25, 2014, a shepherd grazing his sheep accidently came across what appeared to be partly buried human bones near Tootak Village in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan. He informed the Levies and villagers of this gory discovery and they quickly converged onto the site and commenced digging at the spot containing human remains. Further search of the area revealed the existence of a total of three mass graves with human remains, and though this discovery shocked the locals, it didn’t come as any big surprise because in Balochistan enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killing are commonplace.

Enforced disappearances orchestrated by the Pakistan army, its notorious spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the paramilitaries under its command in Balochistan is an ongoing practice that became the military's staple anti-militancy strategy since 1999 after the coup that brought Gen Pervez Musharraf into power.

Nearly a decade-and-a half ago (May 4, 2010, to be precise), while commenting on the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry for Missing Persons in Pakistan, its Supreme Court judge Justice Javed Iqbal went on record to state that “Disappearances of people of Balochistan are the most burning issue in the country,” , adding “Due to this issue, the situation in Balochistan is at its worst,” which reflects the seriousness of this horrific malaise

Glimmer of Hope

Calling this discovery “outrageous and shocking,” Pakistan’s then Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Gilani took suo moto notice of Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) chairman Nasrullah Baloch’s appeal for a judicial inquiry into the discovery of mass graves and called for a report from Inspector General Police (IGP) Balochistan and Deputy Commissioner (DC) Khudzar. During his appearance before the three-member Supreme Court Bench, DC Khuzdar confirmed that mass graves had been unearthed near Tootak Village, but claimed that only they contained 13 dead bodies.

In its news report on this incident, DW quoted Ms Zohra Yusuf, the HRCP chairperson saying that "The residents of Khuzdar have told us that the number of dead bodies uncovered is much higher than 15." Notwithstanding the official attempt to drastically reduce the number of bodies recovered from the mass graves, hopes were raised that the mystery of mass graves would be unraveled and the perpetrators of this gruesome crime brought to book.

With Balochistan’s Home Secretary informing the Supreme Court that Justice Noor Maskanzai would be conducting the inquiry and that his report would be submitted within a month, it seemed that things were at last moving at the right pace and in the right direction, which seemed nothing less than a miracle.

Unfortunately this was not to be!

Initial Cover-up

In its report on this incident, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) revealed that though locals claimed to have found a total of 169 bodies from these three mass graves, its own assessment based on credible inputs was that at least 103 bodies had been recovered. As the Pakistan army outrightly denies any involvement in orchestrating enforced disappearances or indulging in extra-judicial executions and instead blames Baloch armed groups for the same, one had expected that Rawalpindi would use this discovery to vindicate its assertions and exposing those it so brazenly accuses for committing these heinous crimes.

Instead, AHRC in its report has mentioned that “Pakistani military forces stopped the local people from unearthing the mass graves and took control of the area. Now, no one is allowed access to the location except military personnel.” . Imposition of access control measures by the local administration to prevent unnecessary congestion that could impede investigations or contaminate the incident site is understandable. However, by preventing Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) representatives from carrying out their bonafide duty of inspecting the mass graves, isn’t it obvious that the Pakistan army has a lot to hide? And by mentioning that “The crimes of the security agencies in Balochistan and the mass-scale disappearances and extrajudicial killings have now been exposed by the discoveries of these mass graves,” , AHRC left no room for any doubts in this regard.

Judicial Whitewash

Few (if any) had any hope that the judicial commission would establish the facts and identify those responsible for the extra-judicial executions and internment of the victims’ bodies in mass graves. In fact, even before the judicial commission submitted its report, The Hindu quoted Karachi based Baloch activist Nazish Nrohi saying “We know nothing will come out of it,” and this is exactly what happened. The judicial commission gave a clean chit to the Pakistan army and its spy agency on the grounds that “No one recorded a statement against the army, secret agencies and the government.”

That the judicial commission exonerated the army and intelligence agencies just because the witnesses “did not accuse them of being involved in this heinous crime” is indeed laughable, since it was the army, intelligence agencies and paramilitaries that produced the witnesses before the commission. Furthermore, by stating that “there is enough evidence to suggest that the army, spy agencies and the government were not involved in this incident,” but failing to reveal what exactly the “enough evidence” on which it so confidently absolved the military, paramilitaries and intelligence agencies was, the judicial commission only ended up making a mockery of the much hyped high level inquiry.

The Asian Legal Resource Centre in its written statement on Khuzdar mass graves submitted to United Nations General Assembly’s Human Rights Council aptly highlighted the abject inadequacy of the judicial commission report by noting that “The Commission in their report, failed to point out the causes for the mass graves and those responsible.” It also brought out the glaring anomaly that while “The report rejected outright the involvement of the government, the armed forces and other law enforcement agencies in the discovery of the mass graves…(it) instead, remained non-committed and hinted towards the involvement of a suspect and his accomplices belonging to Khuzdar in the incident.”

Skeleton’s in Rawalpindi’s Cupboard?

The Pakistan army’s refusal to allow fair and impartial investigation of the Khuzdar mass graves by denying human rights organisations including HRCP access to the incident site clearly indicates that it was trying to conceal the truth.

Perhaps this is why AHRC in its report urged “the United Nations to send a high powered fact finding mission to probe the presence of mass graves in Balochistan province, particularly in Khuzdar district. “It must be pointed out that the people of Pakistan do not expect any proper and transparent investigation from their government and the security agencies as they themselves are involved in the killings and enforced disappearances and the concealment of such crimes, therefore, the importance of a UN report cannot be overemphasized.” .

In its 2011 report on Enforced Disappearances by Pakistan Security Forces in Balochistan, Human Rights Watch (HRW) mentioned that 76-year-old secretary general of the Baloch Republican Party Bashir Azeem was told by a Pakistani official during his unacknowledged detention in April 2010 that “Even if the president or chief justice tells us to release you, we won’t. We can torture you, or kill you, or keep you for years at our will. It is only the Army chief and the (intelligence) chief that we obey.” . Though uncouth, this remark truthfully reveals the imperious mindset of the Pakistan army and its intelligence agencies as well as the scant regard Rawalpindi has for both the legislature and judiciary.

Global Apathy

While the unlucky ones who were extra-judicially executed and secretly buried in the Khuzdar mass graves never got justice, a sense of closure has eluded the near and dear ones of the victims as the perpetrators are still roaming about freely. Regrettably, this humongous human tragedy and Rawalpindi’s strong arm tactics to suppress the truth failed to stir the conscience of the international community.

All that Washington did was acknowledge the flawed Khuzdar mass graves investigation. The US Department of State 2014 Report on Pakistan mentions that “After a six-month investigation by a judicial commission, the panel’s report did not establish who was responsible; however, it ruled out the involvement of the military and intelligence agencies. Politicians and human rights activists alleged severe intimidation of witnesses and members of the judicial commission in the case.” .

Similarly, all that Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister did was to offer lip service by stating that “We are concerned about reports of forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Pakistan’s Balochistan province … Canada strongly condemns acts of persecution on the basis of ethnicity or religion and shares international concerns about the treatment of Pakistani minorities, including the Baloch.”

In 2020, UK's Minister of State Affairs at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development Nigel Adams admitted that "We are aware of reports of mass graves in Khuzdar, Turbat and Dera Bugti in Balochistan,” and went on to add, “These would be of deep concern to the British government." London’s purported “deep concern” however hasn’t yet translated into any action.

The most apposite summation of the heartrending Khuzdar mass graves episode came from British Member of Parliament, Stephen Morgan who lamented that “Needless to say, after a mild wave of indignation, the story of the mass graves disappeared under a pall of silence…the Pakistani government 'commission of enquiry' showed most eagerness not in establishing the truth but in exonerating the armed forces and secret services to the utmost of its ability.” .

Tailpiece: Targeted by their own army and forsaken by successive governments as well as the international community, who can fathom the tremendous import of Martin Luther Jr’s incisive observation that “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends” better than the hapless people of Balochistan!

Nilesh Kunwar is a retired Indian Army Officer who has served in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. He is a keen ‘Kashmir-Watcher,’ and after retirement is pursuing his favourite hobby of writing for newspapers, journals and think-tanks. Views expressed above are the author's own