The recent Hoshab incident where a 10 year old child was tortured and raped by the Frontier Corps [FC] has raised serious concerns over the people in the region in general, Hoshab town in particular. The check-posts of Frontier Corps are established after every few kilometers in the name of ‘security’, but they themselves are acting as offenders in the given part. The State claims to have been made in the name of Islam and purely aims to promote Islamic way of life [mentioned in her constitution’s article 31], but the emergence of such shameful incidents in the Month of Ramazan proves how ‘Islamization’ has functioned diversely here in this State.
However, this is not the first such incident when a FC personnel was found in promotion of heinousness. Last year’s August 13 witnessed a similar case when the Karachi University’s student, Hayat Baloch, was allegedly killed in front of his vociferating parents after he was dragged from a nearby date orchard when an IED blast occured on the convoy of Frontier Corps in Absor, Turbat. As hashtags took control over the issue in social media, the mainstream media was compelled to give little place to the incident; the other reason for this little attention by mainstream media was due to the opposition’s condemnation to the government.
Looking at the situations getting international notice, the Inspector General of Frontier Corps (South), Sarfaraz Ali Soomro, visited Mr. Mirza’s home and tried to silence them with different tactics; they bribed them money to be tacit, but Mr. Mirza refused to take the money. Something that was never leaked, the issue got colder day after day: some sources claim that Hayat’s family was threatened by the Frontier Corps, some others say “Baloch never foresee justice for them in the Pakistani court system.”
On January 20 [Wednesday], the District and Sessions judge of Turbat, Rafiq Langove, pronounced death sentence for the sepoy Shadiullah after the thorough hearing of Hayat’s case, and then the case was closed. But, some sources [wishing to be unnamed] accuse that Shadiullah was transferred to somewhere out of Balochistan instead of getting punished and they [the authorities] say he is prisoned under strict regulations. If he really is prisoned, why isn’t he traced? If he really is to be sentenced to death, how and where would it be brought into practice?
On April 21 [Wednesday], yet another heart-wrenching incident took place in Makran’s Kech district, where FC personnels were involved in an assault of a ten year old child, Murad Ameer of tehsil Hoshab. Sources say that the two brothers were on way to the oasis when the FC stopped them on a check-post and beat both the brothers; the elder brother was left and Murad was taken inside the camp.
The elder brother reached the main bazaar and informed his parents about everything after which they rushed to the camp where they were told that Murad was set free earlier. On their way back home, they found him unconscious in a rivulet. They took him to Turbat, somewhat 114 kilometers away from Hoshab. On the other hand, the locals blocked the N-8 highway for several hours after which they were forcefully dragged away from the highway.
According to Human Rights Council of Balochistan, “FC personnel raped a ten years old boy Murad Ameer in Hoshab, Kech. He is admitted to a hospital in Turbat in critical condition after he was found unconscious. It is extremely shameful and beyond savageness”, tweeted the Council and asked for immediate arrest of the personnel involved in the heinous crime.
Hoshab falls under the constituency of the Finance Minister of Balochistan, Mr. Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, who is still silent to this issue, but has been active in praising the FC personnels for opening schools in his constituency. One wonders if it is the task of a law enforcement agency to function as legislature and make schools and conduct unnecessary ceremonies!
Zobaida Jalal, on the other hand, has tweeted to take action of the issue once the medical reports are released if the boy was raped and then, she tweeted, the officer would be dealt with in accordance with law. I suppose if by ‘law’ the federal minister meant the same as happened in Hayat Baloch’s case; sentenced to death in paper but transfered secretly away from Balochistan – maybe for a short span of time.
Coming to the recent tragic incident, reports are coming from Hoshab that the FC personnels are roaming around the home of Murad Ameer and asking the family to cut off the First Investigation Report [FIR] and solve the matter by providing them money, but the family members have refused. As a result, the elder brother of Murad, Naeem Ameer has been continuously approached and warned with threatening words to solve the matter or else things would get worse.
Looking at the ongoing situations, one thing is sure that Balochistan’s government has no credibility to decide. It is always the higher ruling class of army that instructs what Jam Kamal and his ‘puppet’ government is supposed to quote or act, which merely pleases them. Law has never been the perfect way by which things are carried out in Balochistan. In short, Balochistan has been treated as a colony by the Pakistani government and they are proving it after every incident, be it the case of Bramsh’s mother Malik Naaz, Kulsoom, Hayat or the recent tragic incident of Murad Ameer.