{"id":9,"date":"2013-09-23T13:16:19","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T13:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projects.appropriate.is\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/?p=9"},"modified":"2018-08-24T18:29:19","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T18:29:19","slug":"the-struggle-pakistan-does-not-want-reported","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/index.php\/2013\/09\/23\/the-struggle-pakistan-does-not-want-reported\/","title":{"rendered":"The struggle Pakistan does not want reported"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><!--\n.nav-next {display:none;}\n--><\/style>\n<h4>Hundreds of people have vanished, suffered torture or died in a little-known separatist con\ufb02ict<\/h4>\n<p>Abdul Razzaq Baloch worked nights. After dinner, he would start his shift as a proofreader at the Daily Tawar, a newspaper published on a shoestring from a cramped office in Karachi, Pakistan\u2019s commercial capital. At 2 a.m., the 42-year-old would make the short journey home on his new Super Star motorbike. One night in March, Baloch did not return. His phone was switched off and his bike was missing. His family made enquiries with the police, then hospitals, and finally in the lanes of Lyari, the gritty neighbourhood where they live.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-columns third-and-two-thirds clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<p>One night in March, Baloch did not return. His phone was switched off and his bike was missing. His family made enquiries with the police, then hospitals, and finally in the lanes of Lyari, the gritty neighbourhood where they live.<\/p>\n<p>The word on the street was that Baloch had been kidnapped, his relatives said. He had last been seen as he was bundled into a white SUV with a blanket over his head. Speaking to Reuters two months later, Saeeda Sarbazi, Baloch\u2019s outspoken sister, was in no doubt as to the identities of the culprits: Pakistan\u2019s intelligence services.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis case is like a bombshell \u2013 nobody we go to wants to touch it,\u201d Sarbazi said at the family home in Lyari, where his wife and four children awaited his return. \u201cPeople are scared that the agencies will harm them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Aug. 21, Baloch\u2019s body was found dumped amid the brambles overrunning wasteground in Suranji Town, a scrappy neighbourhood on Karachi\u2019s northwestern fringe. A piece of paper bearing his name had been stuffed into his pocket. His hands were tied; he had been strangled.<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div style=\"width: 693px; height: 448px; overflow: hidden;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin-left: -27px; margin-top: -14px;\" src=\"\/\/e.issuu.com\/embed.html#9843580\/5560968\" height=\"479\" width=\"740\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-columns third clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col\">\nPakistan\u2019s military, which has repeatedly denied involvement in extra-judicial killings, did not respond to a request for comment on Baloch\u2019s death. Baloch\u2019s associates believe his disappearance and murder was linked to the Daily Tawar\u2019s coverage of a separatist guerrilla campaign in Baluchistan, a huge Pakistani province bordering Afghanistan and Iran, where his family has its roots.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Tawar supports independence for the province, and according to several of his friends, Baloch himself belonged to a pro-independence party.<\/p>\n<p>The Baluch rebels, who believe the rest of Pakistan has always treated Baluchistan like a colony, have agitated and fought for their own independent, secular homeland for decades. In response, the security forces have waged a lengthy but little-known counter-insurgency to try to quash them.<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\n<blockquote><p>This case is like a bombshell \u2013 nobody we go to wants to touch it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: right; font-style: italic;\"><strong>Saeeda Sarbazi<\/strong><br \/>\nAbdul Razzaq Baloch\u2019s sister<\/p>\n<p>In the past three years, the bodies of hundreds of members of pro-independence political parties, student groups and even poets have been discovered on desolate verges or patches of scrub.<\/p>\n<p>Baluch activists say the bodies are evidence that the military is pursuing a systematic \u201ckill-and-dump\u201d campaign to crush dissent \u2013 a charge the army denies.<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\nUnder growing pressure from Pakistan\u2019s increasingly assertive judiciary to explain the disappearances, military officers have speculated that a range of armed groups or criminal gangs active in the province may be to blame.<\/p>\n<p>But Baloch\u2019s death has hardened a belief among Baluch that the security forces \u2013 far from softening their stance \u2013 have sharply expanded their crackdown this year in a drive to extinguish the uprising once and for all.<\/p>\n<p>In a new trend, the bodies of the disappeared have begun to turn up beyond Baluchistan\u2019s borders in Karachi, a city of 18 million people and the motor of Pakistan\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n<p>The discovery of Baloch\u2019s remains, alongside those of another man, brought the total number of bodies of missing Baluch that have been found in the city to 18 since the start of this year, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-columns two-thirds-and-third clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col\"><div id=\"attachment_77\" style=\"width: 801px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-77\" class=\"size-full wp-image-77\" alt=\"Baloch\u2019s wife Gul Afroz and their daughters, Zainab, left, and Sara. Baloch\u2019s body was found last month.\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences6.jpg?resize=791%2C521\" width=\"791\" height=\"521\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences6.jpg?w=791&amp;ssl=1 791w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences6.jpg?resize=300%2C197&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences6.jpg?resize=600%2C395&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 791px) 100vw, 791px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-77\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">LEFT BEHIND: Baloch\u2019s wife Gul Afroz and their daughters, Zainab, left, and Sara. Baloch\u2019s body was<br \/>found last month. REUTERS\/STRINGER<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\nAlthough Baloch vanished in Karachi, many of the others had been reported missing hundreds of km away in Baluchistan itself. Asked to comment on Baloch\u2019s disappearance, a security official said he had no specific knowledge of the case but added that the military would have no reason to detain an obscure proofreader.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnknown journalist. Unknown newspaper with a very limited or no following at all. Why should we go and pinch him and make him part of the news?\u201d the official said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t serve us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Virtually sealed off to foreigners, Baluchistan is potentially one of Pakistan\u2019s most prosperous regions, endowed with<br \/>\ncopper and gold. Iran\u2019s government hopes a planned $1.5bn pipeline project will one day snake across its rocky wastes to export natural gas to Pakistan and India to help Tehran circumvent U.S. sanctions. China wants to import oil via Baluchistan\u2019s deepwater port of Gwadar.<\/p>\n<p>But none of that is likely to happen as long as the unrest in Baluchistan continues. The rebels, as well as the army, stand accused of waging a dirty war. In recent years, the HRCP believes Baluch eparatist gunmen have murdered hundreds of civilian \u201csettlers\u201d from Pakistan\u2019s eastern Punjab province to try to drive out the community.<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-columns third clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col\">\nIn turn, Baluch say the Frontier Corps, the main official force in Baluchistan, launches punitive raids to torch homes and round up opponents. Unfolding in closed-off badlands, the conflict is subject to far less international scrutiny than the army\u2019s separate battle against the Pakistani Taliban on the frontier with Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, repeated reports by human rights groups of abuses in Baluchistan have raised awkward questions over the conduct of Pakistan\u2019s military, which has received almost $11 billion from Washington since 2001 to finance its anti-Taliban campaigns, according to data compiled by Alan Kronstadt of the Congressional Research Service.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Baluch living inside and outside the province over the course of several months, Reuters has been able to gather testimony from witnesses and relatives over what they describe as three apparent cases of \u201ckill-and-dump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reuters submitted a dossier of testimony related to the disappearance of Abdul Razzaq Baloch, the journalist, and two other alleged \u201ckill-and-dump\u201d cases within Baluchistan to the army on June 10. The military said it had pursued the query but had not yet been able to obtain any information.<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\nReuters also wrote to Pakistan\u2019s government seekingpermission to visit Baluchistan to meet military officers but received no reply. The Interior Ministry did not offer an explanation, but officials have previously said that journalists travelling to Baluchistan may face risks from armed groups. The lack of access makes collating data on disappearances difficult and there is a risk that some of those reported missing may have gone into hiding. Taking these caveats into account, one online database of abductions run by a group of activists in the United States who track media reports, suggests the pace of disappearances has increased sharply. The group says 247 Baluch were reported abducted in the first six months of this year, compared with 214 in the whole of 2012, and 206 in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone remotely linked to Baluch (separatist) politics is targeted,\u201d said Jeeand Baloch, a leader of Baloch Students Organisation (Azad), a pro-independence group. \u201cIf they go into hiding, their families are punished.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The allegations come at a sensitive time for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose new government has pledged to rein in abuses as a prelude to seeking negotiations with insurgents to usher the alienated province into the national fold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\n<h1 style=\"line-height: 20px;\">247<span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #555;\"> Number of Baluch reportedly abducted in first six months of 2013, up from 214 in whole of 2012<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"www.balochmissing.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.balochmissing.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Whether he can succeed will be an early test of his authority over Pakistan\u2019s powerful military, whose commanders exert far greater influence in Baluchistan than the feeble provincial administration.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cLINES YOU CAN\u2019T CROSS\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Baloch, the missing journalist, lived with his extended family in an apartment in Lyari, a warren in old Karachi where police tread warily and gangsters make the rules. His family and friends described him as a bookish man who socialised little and prided himself on his role as bread-winner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_101\" style=\"width: 1067px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-101\" class=\"size-full wp-image-101\" alt=\"DEATH IN KARACHI: More than a dozen bodies of dead Baluch have turned up in Karachi, Pakistan\u2019s biggest city. REUTERS\/STRINGER\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/karachi.jpg?resize=1050%2C462\" width=\"1050\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/karachi.jpg?w=1057&amp;ssl=1 1057w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/karachi.jpg?resize=300%2C131&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/karachi.jpg?resize=1024%2C450&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/karachi.jpg?resize=600%2C263&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-101\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">DEATH IN KARACHI: More than a dozen bodies of dead Baluch have turned up in Karachi, Pakistan\u2019s biggest city. REUTERS\/STRINGER<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-columns third clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col\">\nThe proofr eader was a member of theBaloch National Movement (BNM), a separatist party, according to several people who knew him and party officials. Although it espouses peaceful protest, the BNM\u2019s stance marks its members as traitors in the eyes of the security forces, still haunted by the loss of East Pakistan, which broke away to form Bangladesh in 1971.<\/p>\n<p>The separatist message was one shared by Baloch\u2019s newspaper. Founded a decade ago, The Daily Tawar had a circulation of a few thousand copies within Baluchistan, but its pro-independence stance earned it a loyal online following among the Baluch diaspora in Europe and the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>The paper \u2013 whose title means \u201cCall\u201d in Balochi \u2013 has regularly reported on allegations of enforced disappearances by the military and its editors have said they received repeated threats. Several of its reporters had been murdered.<\/p>\n<p>In early March this year, a little over two weeks before Baloch disappeared, the Daily Tawar reported the discovery of the body of Abdul Rehman Baloch, a senior member of the BNM who had disappeared in Baluchistan in February. His remains were discarded in bushes in the eastern Steel Town area of Karachi in March.<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\nPakistan\u2019s military has always denied involvement in disappearances. According to a source in BSO-Azad, the Baluch students\u2019 movement, Baloch was among those who went to a hospital to retrieve Abdul Rehman\u2019s bullet-ridden body.<\/p>\n<p>In an angry editorial published the next day, The Daily Tawar accused security agencies of using Karachi as a dumpsite for bodies in the hope the discoveries would go unremarked because of the city\u2019s high murder rate.<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks later, on March 24, Baloch left his house just before evening prayers, saying he was going to buy new sandals. He was wearing a cream-coloured loose fitting shirt and trousers. His wife cooked fish biryani, his favourite, and waited for his usual call of \u201cI\u2019m home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the proofreader did not return, his family assumed he had gone straight to work. Later they heard that he had been pushed into the back of one of two white SUVs spotted prowling Lyari after dark.<\/p>\n<p>Although Baloch\u2019s relatives say they are certain he was picked up by security agencies, they have produced no hard evidence. They said it was impossible for Reuters to meet the people who reported witnessing his abduction since they were too scared to discuss the incident.<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\nOn April 6, almost two weeks after Baloch vanished, a group of men ransacked the Daily Tawar office in the early hours of the morning and set fire to files, according to the Committee of Pakistan Newspaper Editors. Baloch\u2019s family said the intruders took his computer.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Tawar\u2019s staff went into hiding. The paper has stopped printing but still posts stories online. \u201cThere are lines you can\u2019t cross as a journalist in Karachi,\u201d said a Baluch reporter. \u201cMaybe he crossed one of those lines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cNO WAY TO PAY\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A week after he went missing, Baloch\u2019s sister Sarbazi saw her brother\u2019s number flash up on her cell phone. A man she did not know demanded 10 million Pakistani rupees ($100,000) for his release. She could hear laughing in the background. Another call followed and the amount dropped to 1 million.<\/p>\n<p>Then, nothing. Several Karachi journalists told Reuters they suspected Baloch had been taken by Pakistani intelligence. The police officer in charge of the Baloch case rules out kidnapping for ransom, a common practice in Karachi.<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-columns two-thirds-and-third clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div id=\"attachment_104\" style=\"width: 1010px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-104\" class=\"size-full wp-image-104\" alt=\"MORGUE: Family members identify Baloch\u2019s body in Karachi last month. REUTERS\/STRINGER\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences4.jpg?resize=1000%2C655\" width=\"1000\" height=\"655\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences4.jpg?w=1000&amp;ssl=1 1000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences4.jpg?resize=300%2C196&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences4.jpg?resize=600%2C393&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences4.jpg?resize=885%2C580&amp;ssl=1 885w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-104\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MORGUE: Family members identify Baloch\u2019s body in Karachi last month. REUTERS\/STRINGER<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\n\u201cThe family has no way to pay,\u201d said Senior Superintendent of Police Niaz Ahmed Khosa, one of the city\u2019s most respected investigators. He declined to offer an alternative theory. Raja Irshad, a lawyer who has represented the military, said security forces faced a dilemma since the judicial system was too weak to prosecute suspected separatist rebels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo my mind, these missing persons, they are militants. When they fight with the security forces, hey get killed,\u201d Irshad said in Islamabad. \u201cNot a single innocent person in Baluchistan has been taken away by the security agencies. No unarmed young man gets killed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>News Baloch\u2019s body had been found broke on Vsh, a Balochi channel. The family\u2019s television was out of order and word only reached them at midday; relatives rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to identify his body.<\/p>\n<p>At first they insisted there had been a mistake: Baloch\u2019s face was so badly bloated it bore scant resemblance to the man they knew. Only the next day did Sarbazi confirm it was him, after a careful examination of the only part of his body that was not badly disfigured \u2013 his feet. He was wearing the same cream-coloured shirt he had donned on the day he vanished.<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-columns third clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<strong>\u201cTORTURED WITH A DRILL\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Baloch\u2019s disappearance is not unique. Reuters has gathered testimony from several witnesses and relatives about two other alleged \u201ckill-and-dump\u201d cases in Baluchistan itself, one in April this year and one in May.<\/p>\n<p>Haji Mohammad Anwar Baloch, a senior member of the Baluch Republican Party, which also supports Baluch independence, said he fled Pakistan in July 2011, after security forces repeatedly raided his house. He settled in Switzerland; some family members, including his son Zaheer, remained in Baluchistan.<\/p>\n<p>Anwar said security forces raided his house in the province\u2019s Panjgur District at four a.m. on April 22, and took away 32-year-old Zaheer, who had a masters in biology and worked as a volunteer teacher. Zaheer was also active in his father\u2019s party, participating in rallies and strikes.<\/p>\n<p>Zaheer\u2019s body was found in the Suranji Town area of Karachi in early June, the same district where Baloch\u2019s body would be dumped. Zaheer\u2019s body was accompanied by a paper bearing his name and the phone number of one of his friends: a common pattern with dumped Baluch bodies.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_115\" style=\"width: 441px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-115\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences2.jpg?resize=431%2C572\" alt=\"ANOTHER VICTIM? Asim Faqir, here with his son Gwahram, was the victim of an extra-judicial killing by Pakistani security forces in May, his family say. Pakistan\u2019s military did not respond to a request for comment. REUTERS\/FAMILY\/ HANDOUT\" width=\"431\" height=\"572\" class=\"size-full wp-image-115\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences2.jpg?w=431&amp;ssl=1 431w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences2.jpg?resize=226%2C300&amp;ssl=1 226w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 431px) 100vw, 431px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-115\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">ANOTHER VICTIM? Asim Faqir, here with his<br \/>son Gwahram, was the victim of an extra-judicial<br \/>killing by Pakistani security forces in May, his<br \/>family say. Pakistan\u2019s military did not respond<br \/>to a request for comment. REUTERS\/FAMILY\/<br \/>HANDOUT<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\nAnwar said relatives had showed him images of the body via Skype. \u201cHe was tortured with a drill \u2013 an electrical drill to make a hole in the wall,\u201d Anwar told Reuters in Geneva, running his finger from the base of his throat down to his stomach to demonstrate the path of the wounds.<\/p>\n<p>Police said bodies of Baluch had been routinely dumped in Suranji Town this year; they could not provide details of each case. The military did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWHERE IS ASIM?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On Feb. 2, a young man named Asim Faqir left the Baluchistan town of Turbat on a packed minibus, with his wife Hanifa Baloch and their infant son.<\/p>\n<p>Hanifa said members of the Frontier Corps stopped the bus near a village called Nodez. They asked the driver to identify Faqir, who Hanifa says had no political affiliation.<\/p>\n<p>When the driver refused, soldiers beat him. The paramilitaries then demanded other passengers identify Faqir; they also remained silent. The soldiers beat the driver again until he glanced at Faqir, whom they took away, Hanifa said.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I couldn\u2019t recognise him at first. But then I knew it was him. I touched his face.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: right; font-style: italic;\"><strong>Zareena &#8211; Asim Faqir\u2019s sister<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pakistan\u2019s military, which handles media for the Frontier Corps, did not respond to a request for comment. On May 26, a convoy of Frontier Corps arrived at Faqir\u2019s village of Nazarabad, according to his sister and another resident who declined to be named. As the sister, Zareena Baloch, stood watching, the paramilitaries searched their compound.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is Asim?\u201d one of the men asked. \u201cYou should know. You people abducted him four months back,\u201d Zareena replied.<\/p>\n<p>The soldiers searched the house of Azim, Asim Faqir\u2019s older brother. They emerged carrying framed photos of both men and set the house on fire. As the soldiers left, Zareena heard a burst of gunfire which she took to be celebratory shots. Shortly afterwards, members of a local police force arrived bearing Asim Faqir\u2019s body.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI couldn\u2019t recognise him at first,\u201d Zareena said. \u201cBut then I knew it was him. I touched his face.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div id=\"attachment_112\" style=\"width: 384px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-112\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences-graphic.png?resize=374%2C398\" alt=\"Baluchistan - Source: Reuters\" width=\"374\" height=\"398\" class=\"size-full wp-image-112\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences-graphic.png?w=374&amp;ssl=1 374w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewgreenjournalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/pakistan-dissapearences-graphic.png?resize=281%2C300&amp;ssl=1 281w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 374px) 100vw, 374px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-112\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Baluchistan &#8211; Source: Reuters<\/p><\/div>\nAnother resident of Nazarabad corroborated part of Zareena\u2019s account, saying residents had emerged from their houses after hearing the shots and found Faqir\u2019s body.<\/p>\n<p>One bullet had pierced his left eye, Zareena said. Relatives provided what they said was a photo of the body, in a pool of blood, to Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>Another relative of Faqir who lives outside Pakistan said: \u201cThey (the intelligence services) have long arms. If you talk about freedom, if you talk about anything, they will come and get you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Long ignored in Pakistan, the allegations of abuses in Baluchistan have begun to be heard. Last year, Pakistan\u2019s chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry held a series of hearings over the disappearances and subjected the head of the Frontier Corps to a rare public grilling. Sharif\u2019s new government has also begun to talk more openly about the accusations of extra-judicial killings in Baluchistan.<\/p>\n<p>Abdul Malik, a veteran Baluch politician who was chosen by Sharif to head the provincial administration, has called on the military to end human rights violations as a prelude to talks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will all together, me and Nawaz Sharif, tell the security establishment that these things have to end,\u201d Malik told Reuters in Islamabad in June. \u201cWe have to create an environment in which we are in a position to invite insurgents for negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additional reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Syed Raza Hassan in Islamabad and Tom Miles in Geneva; Writing by Matthew Green; Editing by Simon Robinson and Sara Ledwith<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hundreds of people have vanished, suffered torture or died in a little-known separatist con\ufb02ict Abdul Razzaq Baloch worked nights. 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