BHC takes notice of Turbat killings
QUETTA, April 9 The Balochistan High Court took suo motu notice on Thursday of the killing of three Baloch political leaders whose bodies were found in Turbat.The Balochistan government formed a judicial tribunal to probe into the incident, while the National Party demanded registration of a case against the chiefs of the Inter-Services (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) over the killing of Baloch National Movement leaders Ghulam Mohammad Baloch and Lala Muneer and Baloch Republican Party leader Sher Mohammad Baloch.
A division bench of the BHC, comprising Chief Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai and Justice Akhtar Zaman Malghani, issued notices to the home secretary, the Turbat and Panjgur district police chiefs and the SHOs of the police stations concerned in the suo motu case.
The court summoned the officials on April 16 with investigation reports of the case and record of granting of bail to the deceased by the Turbat sessions court.
The government formed the tribunal headed by Justice Nadir Khan Durani of the high court to probe the case, ascertain responsibility for the killings and give recommendations for preventing such incidents.
Speaking at a press conference, National party`s senior vice-president Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo held the ISI and MI responsible for the killings.
He demanded that an FIR should be registered against ISI Director General Lt-Gen Shuja Pasha and MI chief Maj-Gen Mohammad Asif for the killings.
He said the killing of the BNM and BRP leaders was the most serious incident after the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti and Nawabzada Balaach Marri. He said the incident had left Baloch youths with no option other than taking up arms against the “institutions involved in murders of their people”.
He said Ghulam Mohammad was a member of a reconciliation committee which had ensured safe release of UNHCR official John Solecki from kidnappers, but the intelligence agencies had rewarded him by mutilating his body.
Senator Bizenjo said the intelligence agencies had pushed Nawab Bugti and Nawabzada Bramdagh towards mountains and the killing of the three Baloch leaders was aimed at terrorising the Baloch people.
He said the Baloch political movem ent could not be suppressed by state apparatus.
He said target killings of Baloch figures had aggravated the situation in Balochistan and his party would contact other parties to convene a multi-party conference to devise a strategy for the province.
Lawyers boycotted court proceedings and took out a procession from the high court to the press club.
They chanted slogans against the government, the governor and the chief minister and demanded that the killers be punished.
Supreme Court Bar Association`s president Ali Ahmed Kurd, Balochistan High Court Bar Association chief Shakeel Ahmed Hadi and senior lawyers Habib Jalib Baloch, Amanullah Kanrani, Kamran Murtaza and Javed Mohsin condemned the extra-judicial killing of the three leaders.
They said the deceased were peaceful citizens who believed in rule of the law. A court in Turbat had granted them interim bail before arrest, but they were picked up from the premises of the session court in broad daylight and then assassinated.
A procession taken out by the Baloch Women`s Panel was blocked by police at Golimar Chowk. The protesters called upon the United Nations to take “notice of atrocities” against the Baloch.
The Baloch National Front, BRP, BNM, Baloch Bar Association and the Azad, Mohinuddin and Pujar factions of the Baloch Students` Organisation said in separate statements that they would continue their struggle against “usurpers to protect the coast and resources of the Baloch land”.
The National Party announced that Namaz-i-Janaza of the leaders would be offered at Liaquat Park in Quetta on Friday morning.