Outcry over unlawful detention of HR activist

KARACHI: Despite a passage of one week to his detention, rights activist and general secretary of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Saeed Baloch has been neither produced in any court of law nor officially shown arrested in any criminal case, sparking outrage from international rights groups.

On Jan 16, Mr Baloch, who is also the general secretary of the employeesunion of the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS), was called to an office of the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, in Keamari and since then his whereabouts have not been known to anyone. The FCS came under the spotlight a few months ago when the Rangers picked up its vice chairman Sultan Qamar Siddiqui and others for allegedly financing terrorism and corruption. However, a spokesman for the Rangers onMonday refused to comment on reports about MrBalochsarrest. PFF Chairman Mohammad Ali Shah told Dawn that Mr Balochs family had challenged hisillegal detentionby the Rangers before the Sindh High Court. Also on Monday, an international rights organisation issued a strongly worded statement condemning the arrest and detention of Mr Baloch by the Rangers and demanding his immediate release. South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR), a network of human rights defenders based in seven South Asian countries, held the government responsible for the arrest. The organisation said itperceives that the arrest may be intended to restrain the activities for the promotion and protection of human rights and the efforts for the prevention of harm to human rights defendersIt also strengthened the belief of the human rights community worldwide that counterterrorism legislation was being usedby many states to repress human rights activity and intimidate human rights defenders. It urged the national human rights institutions as well as relevant parliamentary and judicial bodies in Pakistan to take immediate action for the release of Mr Baloch, also one of the senior members of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and to ensure his safety while in custody. The rights body further demanded that the condition of his detention be made public immediately. Reminding the government of all its responsibilities under national laws and of its obligations under international laws, SAHR called upon the government to give lawyers and human rights bodies full access to Mr Baloch to ensure that his physical and psychological integrity is safeguarded. Notices issued A division bench of the Sindh High Courtissued notices to the Rangers, the provincial police chief, and the federal and provincial law officers to file their respective comments regarding illegal detention of Mr Baloch till Feb 1. The petitioners counsel, Shahid Hussain Soomro, told the bench comprising Justices Ahmad Ali M. Shaikh and Mohammad Kareem Khan Agha that Mr Baloch was a prominent civil society activists who had been struggling for the rights of the people engaged in fishing and working on harbour, fishing boats and Dock labourers.

He submitted that Mr Baloch along with Mahar Bux and Dil Murad had been in the unlawful detention of the Rangers since Jan 16. He asked the court to declare that the detention of Mr Baloch and others was illegal, unauthorised, mala fide and without any lawful authority and direct the Rangers to produce the detainees in the court and set them at liberty forthwith.

Azfar-ul-Ashfaque

* 1/26/2016:
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 Rangers produce missing PFF man, three others in court

KARACHI: A day after human rights bodies asked authorities to make public the detention of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forums Saeed Baloch, Rangers on Tuesday produced him along with three others before the administrative judge of the antiterrorIsm courts and informed him about their 90-day preventive detention for questioning. The PFF general secretary, Saeed Baloch, went missing on Jan 16 and his family alleged that he was in the custody of the Rangers. Only on Monday, the South Asians for Human Rights condemned his arrest and detention and demanded his immediate release.The paramilitary soldiers along with their legal team produced Mr Baloch and three others Mahar Bux, Dil Murad and Saleem Deedag before the administrative judge, Justice Syed Mohammad Farooq Shah of the Sindh High Court. The Rangers team claimed that the suspects were taken into custody on Monday in a Lyari locality upon receivingcredible informationabout their alleged involvement in extortion and other offences that came within the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The court was told that the held suspects were placed under three-month preventive detention under Section 11-EEEE of the ATA for an inquiry. In compliance with Section 11-EEEE (3) of the ATA, the detainees were produced alongwith detention orders and jail warrants for the information of the court, they added. Meanwhile, a Rangers spokesman said in a statement that the suspects were arrested on Jan 25 within the jurisdiction of the Kalri police station. He added that during initial questioning they confessed to having funded outlawed Peoples Amn Committee leader Uzair Jan Baloch, Lyari gangster Noor Mohammad alias Baba Ladla and the proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) for a long time. The spokesman said that the suspects gave employment to 150 alleged gangsters in the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS) at the behest of Uzair Baloch. The statement further said that the Lyari gangsters and BLA used these funds to pur-chase weapons for use in Karachi and Balochistan. The suspects also admitted that millions of rupees were illegally given to political personalities, it alleged. The suspects were also booked in murder cases, which were withdrawn on political grounds, it concluded. Contrary to the Rangers claim, the family of Mr Baloch had recently filed a petition in the Sindh High Court regarding his illegal detention.

The petitioner said that Mr Baloch along with Mahar Bux and Dil Murad had been in the unlawful detention of the Rangers since Jan 16. He asked the court to declare that the detention of Mr Baloch and others was illegal and unauthorised and direct the Rangers to produce them in court and set them at liberty.

Ishaq Tanoli

* 1/27/2016 12:00:00 AM:
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