SBC demands impartial inquiry into Hayat Baloch’s killing

The Sindh Bar Council (SBC) has condemned the murder of a young student of University of Karachi, Hayat Baloch, by Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel in Turbat, and demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident.

SBC Vice Chairman Syed Haider Imam Rizvi, Executive Committee Chairman Shafqat Rahim Rajput and other members of the council also deplored the terrorist attack on an FC convoy in Turbat. They said after the attack, some FC personnel dragged Hayat from his farmhouse where he was working with his father and killed him without any investigation.

They said Hayat’s killing had once again created a state of terror, fear and insecurity among the people of the province and raised serious questions about the uncontrolled powers of security personnel.

The SBC office bearers also welcomed the statement of the FC IG in which he had assured justice for Hayat. They, however, said that only one official, Shahidullah, was not responsible for the killing but all the personnel involved in the incident should be brought into the inquiry proceedings.

The bar council demanded an impartial and unbiased judicial inquiry of the unfortunate incident and justice to the aggrieved family. It also requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the incident so that effective steps could be ensured to end impunity with which some of the state institutes had become accustomed to act.

The SBC also voiced concern over the cases of enforced disappearances in Balochistan and said the state of affairs regarding missing persons in the province was getting complicated day by day and nothing concrete was being done for the safe and early recovery of such missing persons.

They bar council lamented that the commission on enforced disappearances had failed to play its due role, resulting in large figures of missing persons and unmitigated suffering of thousands of families.

The SBC demanded of the government, judiciary, law enforcement agencies and inquiry commission to play their effective and due role for helping the citizens restore their confidence in those institutions.