Khuzdar mass graves: Commission rejects involvement of armed forces, agencies

QUETTA: The government of Balochistan has issued the investigation report prepared by the judicial commission that was formed to probe the mass graves discovered in Totak area of Khuzdar district in Balochistan province.

The commission, in its report, rejected the involvement of the government, armed forces and agencies in the discovery of bodies from the mass graves based on the evidence.

On January 17, 2014, thirteen corpses were retrieved in two mass graves in Khuzdar district. Taking notice of the matter, the provincial government had constituted a judicial commission headed by Justice Noor Muhammad Maskanzai of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) to investigate the matter.

The commission had submitted its report on May 20 stating that the bodies recovered from the mass graves were three to six months old while the unverified evidence could not be presented in the civil court against any person.

The report further hinted towards the involvement of a suspect and his accomplices belonging to Khuzdar in the incident.

The inquiry tribunal, in its report, recommended action against all the officials of the civil administration for being negligent in protecting the lives of people during March to December 2013. The commission further suggested appointing valiant and efficient administration officials to prevent such incidents.

Furthermore, all such incidents involving terrorism and claiming responsibility should be probed by honest and competent personnel, the report added.

It may be mentioned that Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani took suo moto notice of a press report carrying the statement of Nasrullah Baloch, Chairman of the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons, seeking a judicial probe into the mass graves found in Khuzdar.

Meanwhile, the government of Balochistan also constituted a judicial commission to probe the matter relating to the recovery of bodies from the mass graves. According to Nasrullah Baloch, mass graves have been discovered in Khuzdar, adding that three of the bodies identified were on the missing person’s list.

He further stated that according to the Khuzdar deputy commissioner as many as 25 bodies were recovered and he feared more such recoveries.