Pakistan’s parliamentary Human Rights Committee has ordered the Inspector General of Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force, to appear before the committee and explain “extrajudicial killing” of Baloch student Hayat Baloch. Mr Baloch was summarily executed by members of Pakistani security forces on 13th August.
The decision of the Senate Committee on Human Rights, which is headed by a member of Pakistani opposition party, comes in the wake of increasing condemnation and protests by public against the “brutal act”.
In a Tweet on Saturday, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar the chair of the committee said that the cold blooded murder/extra judicial killing of Hayat Baloch is totally unacceptable and IG FC will be called to the HR Committee on 27th August.
Earlier in Turbat on 13th August, Hayat Baloch, a student of Karachi University, was killed by members of Frontier Corps (FC) after their convoy was targeted by an IED. The enraged personnel had tied Hayat Baloch’s hands and shot him at least ten times in front of his family members. Hayat and his family were working in a nearby palm orchard at the time of blast.
FC initially claimed that Hayat was killed in cross fire and then said it was an accidental death. Due to wide-spreading condemnation the FC finally said it was a lone wolf act by an individual FC soldier and a case was registered with the Police.
However, FC’s account was sternly rebutted by Baloch political parties who claim such acts have become a common occurrence in Balochistan. Hakeem Wadhela, the head of Baloch National Movement’s UK branch, while talking to TBP said that such acts are results of culture of impunity that FC and other similar organisations operate in Balochistan with. “There have been many similar examples where innocent Baloch civilians have been killed by Pakistani forces but no one has ever been held accountable. The silence of international community has given Pakistani rogue forces the perfect environment to commit any kind of brutality and get away with it,” said Mr Wadhela.
Baloch civil society has also been protesting against the incident. A protest was held in front of Karachi Press Club on Saturday, whereas, another protest will be held in Quetta tomorrow.