ISLAMABAD: Inspector General of Frontier Corps Balochistan Maj Gen Sarfaraz Ali told the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights on Thursday that the killing of student Hayat Baloch was the negligence of an individual, not the institution.

A meeting of the committee chaired by Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar took up the status of FIR in the killing of the student by FC along with steps taken to recover Amna Masood Janjua’s husband.Briefing the committee, Gen Ali said two FC vehicles were passing through an area when a motorcycle exploded injuring three soldiers. There were 14 FC personnel in both the vehicles. The area was cordoned off and a search operation launched. Hayat Baloch was working with his father in a palm orchard. He was being questioned when an FC personnel shot him. The FC personnel who fired the shots were apprehended and their weapons seized. Police have registered an FIR against one of the FC official.

He said none of the other soldiers in the FC caravan opened fire. “We have handed over the accused to the law,” the official said, calling it a criminal act.

The functional committee also received further in-camera briefing from the IG regarding the case.

The committee also reviewed an issue of public importance raised in the Senate by Senator Pervez Rashid on August 13, 2020, regarding an attack on Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s rally and the investigation so far.

Senator Rashid said her convoy was pelted with stones breaking the bulletproof glass. He said an FIR of the incident had not been registered.

Senator Shaheen Khalid Butt said the glass of a bulletproof vehicle cannot be broken by stones. Police should explain if it was an attempt to harm Maryam Nawaz.The case of abduction and disappearance of Amna Masood Janjua’s husband was also examined. Amna Masood Janjua told the committee that her husband was abducted in 2005.

“My husband ran an IT college and was also a big businessman. Some people who were later recovered have also informed us that my husband is alive. The human rights committee should help me find my husband,” she said.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2020