Open Letter to the Honourable Chief Justice of Baluchistan.

This is with reference to the news item “Kharotabad report to be kept secret” in DAWN’s issue of June 28, 2011, page 14 by Saleem Shahid and Amanullah Kansi. It reports that the Baluchistan Government has decided not to implement the recommendations and also not to make public the findings of the tribunal - investigating the killings of five foreigners three of them women by our security personnel at Kharotabad Chekpost.

As per the news item, an official of Baluchistan Government has stated that, “the recommendations of the report could not be fully implemented owing to the fact the foreigners entered in Pakistan illegally, the security personnel have acted in self-defense for the foreigners were terrorists and the media could exploit the recommendations, therefore the report would not be made public”.

It is pertinent to mention, that as per statements of the witnesses and other concerned people, which include police officials, Frontier Corps and journalists, it has transpired that no orders to fire on the foreigners were given, however, the five victims have received 56 bullets and died of gunshots.

Anyone who has seen the footages of this gruesome and heartrending incident can tell that the victims were tied up and they were shot from close range. There were no signs of suicide vests, weapons or explosives, which is clearly a concoction of our authorities. Obviously, the victims must have been arrested and then tied up and God knows what ordeals they went through before they were shot mercilessly.

Question is, how was this crime then carried out in the name of self-defense and does anyone defending himself from someone whose hands and feet are tied and who does not even has a stone in his or her hands? Why after spraying hundreds of bullets on them no detonators or explosives went off? Why the footages and pictures submitted before the tribunal show no proof such weapons? Why the authorities have threatened and manhandled the police surgeon and the cameraman? Whoever issued the orders to shoot and declared them terrorists, will have answers to all our questions.

Now that answers to these questions are known and the independent commission has concluded its findings why is the Baluchistan Government not making it public and not implementing the recommendations of the tribunal?

The Baluchistan Government and the authorities involved and responsible in this issue have forgotten that the acts of public functionaries are and would always remain subject to the Constitution and the law, which they must apply impartially and without fear, favour or prejudice.

The extra-ordinary circumstances of this incident, the decision of the Baluchistan Government of not implementing the recommendations of the independent tribunal and not making the findings public have rendered it essential for me to humbly request the Honourable Chief Justice of Baluchistan, on behalf of the five victims and the seven month old baby carried by one of the victims, all those who feel that no man should be condemned unheard and no man should be a judge in his own cause and all those who also strongly believe that, “Courts should be the final arbiter and protector of the constitutional norms” to convert my request into a petition and direct the authorities to make the report public and implement all the recommendations so that all those who are responsible for this cruelty should be held to account.

My Lordship (Honourable Chief Justice of Baluchistan), every time the footage of the victims comes to my mind, the waving finger of one the victims tells me that I have a responsibility and Almighty will hold me accountable for not fulfilling that responsibility.

Sincerely,

Asim H. Akhund