On Tuesday, human rights activist and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) coordinator for district Khuzdar, Balochistan, Naeem Sabir was shot dead by unknown assailants in his home town. This was the latest in the series of targeted killings of those raising their voice for the rights of the Baloch. Naeem Sabir was also a writer and chairman of an NGO, Health and Rural Development of Balochistan, and defended the rights of the disadvantaged, particularly handicapped persons. His crime was his outspokenness and consistent reporting of human rights abuses in his district. Khuzdar area has been particularly volatile, with news of demonstrations, clashes with security forces, abductions, and the discovery of bullet-riddled bodies, and search operations consistently emanating from this district during the past few years. Baloch Students’ Organisation-Azad has a strong presence in this district, which is home to Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology. The strategic location of the district on the border of Sindh, through which Pakistan National Highway linking Pakistan to Iran and Turkey passes, might be another reason why security forces are rattled by the fear of expanding insurgency and unleashed brutal repression in the district. Anyone who was actively involved in regularly exposing human rights violations by the security forces was an obvious target.
In recent months, the tactics of state agencies have changed, which are now abducting and killing dissidents, instead of keeping them in custody or killing them secretly. Earlier, such persons were disappeared without a trace. As a result of protests by their relatives and pressure by the Supreme Court to produce the missing persons, now tortured, disfigured bodies of abducted persons reappear a few days after their disappearance. The victims are invariably those who raise their voice for the rights of the Baloch through peaceful means, not those who are conducting the armed insurgency. Naeem Sabir was one such person. He was not even a political activist. Instead of improving the law and order situation, the brutal repression of moderate Baloch will further alienate them and force many of them to choose the option of violence. *