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UN intervention: ‘Advocacy group’s appeal will defame country’
By Hasnaat Malik
Published: March 10, 2014
ISLAMABAD: Legal experts are worried that a local advocacy group’s appeal for UN intervention in Balochistan’s enforced disappearances could tarnish the country’s image abroad.
At the same time, they voiced hope that the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons’ (VBMP) plea would carry no serious legal implications.
The advocacy group’s leader, Mama Qadeer Baloch, who led a 2,800-kilometre march from Quetta to Islamabad for the recovery of Baloch missing persons, approached the UN last week and broached the possibility of intervention.
“This application is unlikely to have any legal implication, because the UN does not act over the applications of individuals,” lawyer Tariq Mahmood told The Express Tribune. But he cautioned that the appeal for intervention could defame the country’s reputation nevertheless.
Mahmood called upon the government to retrace a political path for the resolution of the Balochistan issue.
Another senior lawyer Akhtar Hussain said when a state violated its own laws, then there was no harm in approaching the UN for the redressal of grievances. “We cannot declare anyone a traitor on this ground,” he added.
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Kamran Mutaza, however, opposed Mama Qadeer’s move to approach the UN, saying this might invite foreign powers to intervene in the country’s affairs.
“We are also concerned over the missing persons issue in Balochistan but we want this issue resolved amicably within the country without inviting the UN,” he added.
Kamran said the SCBA was assisting the Supreme Court in Balochistan missing persons’ case and they were also convening all parties’ conference on Balochistan issue in next month.
Talking to The Express Tribune, a VBMP representative said they invited the UN to send a fact finding mission to Balochistan, from where, he claimed, more than 18,000 had gone missing.
Interestingly, there is a contradiction between Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) office’s record and the VBMP’s claim regarding the number of enforced disappearances.
A senior official in the AGP office said they had collected data of Baloch missing persons from different sources. “According to our assessment, around 700 persons are missing in Balochistan.”
Last year, the commission inquiring enforced disappearances also revealed that the total number of cases currently stood at 621. However this figure was contested by Baloch organisations.
Disagreeing with the figure of the VBMP, Defence of Human Rights Chairperson Amina Masood Janjua said the number of Baloch missing persons were in the hundreds.
She said around 60 enforced disappeared Baloch persons cases were pending in the apex court as she herself was dealing with 27 Baloch missing persons’ cases.
Opposing the move of the VBMP, Amina said the country would be defamed all over the world due to this act.
A senior government official said enforced disappearance was the crime against humanity.
“Therefore, UN organisations have the mandate to intervene in Baloch missing persons issue on this ground,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2014.
By Hasnaat Malik
Published: March 10, 2014
ISLAMABAD: Legal experts are worried that a local advocacy group’s appeal for UN intervention in Balochistan’s enforced disappearances could tarnish the country’s image abroad.
At the same time, they voiced hope that the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons’ (VBMP) plea would carry no serious legal implications.
The advocacy group’s leader, Mama Qadeer Baloch, who led a 2,800-kilometre march from Quetta to Islamabad for the recovery of Baloch missing persons, approached the UN last week and broached the possibility of intervention.
“This application is unlikely to have any legal implication, because the UN does not act over the applications of individuals,” lawyer Tariq Mahmood told The Express Tribune. But he cautioned that the appeal for intervention could defame the country’s reputation nevertheless.
Mahmood called upon the government to retrace a political path for the resolution of the Balochistan issue.
Another senior lawyer Akhtar Hussain said when a state violated its own laws, then there was no harm in approaching the UN for the redressal of grievances. “We cannot declare anyone a traitor on this ground,” he added.
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Kamran Mutaza, however, opposed Mama Qadeer’s move to approach the UN, saying this might invite foreign powers to intervene in the country’s affairs.
“We are also concerned over the missing persons issue in Balochistan but we want this issue resolved amicably within the country without inviting the UN,” he added.
Kamran said the SCBA was assisting the Supreme Court in Balochistan missing persons’ case and they were also convening all parties’ conference on Balochistan issue in next month.
Talking to The Express Tribune, a VBMP representative said they invited the UN to send a fact finding mission to Balochistan, from where, he claimed, more than 18,000 had gone missing.
Interestingly, there is a contradiction between Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) office’s record and the VBMP’s claim regarding the number of enforced disappearances.
A senior official in the AGP office said they had collected data of Baloch missing persons from different sources. “According to our assessment, around 700 persons are missing in Balochistan.”
Last year, the commission inquiring enforced disappearances also revealed that the total number of cases currently stood at 621. However this figure was contested by Baloch organisations.
Disagreeing with the figure of the VBMP, Defence of Human Rights Chairperson Amina Masood Janjua said the number of Baloch missing persons were in the hundreds.
She said around 60 enforced disappeared Baloch persons cases were pending in the apex court as she herself was dealing with 27 Baloch missing persons’ cases.
Opposing the move of the VBMP, Amina said the country would be defamed all over the world due to this act.
A senior government official said enforced disappearance was the crime against humanity.
“Therefore, UN organisations have the mandate to intervene in Baloch missing persons issue on this ground,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2014.
