May 3, 2024
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
November 23, 2018, Karachi: A violent gun attack rocked the Chinese consulate. A fierce exchange of gunfire lasting for about an hour left four people dead – two police officers, two Pakistani civilians, and the three attackers themselves. (None of the Chinese consulate staff were harmed during the incident).
December 26, 2018, Dubai: Rashid Hussain Brohi, an ethnic Baloch, and resident of Shahdadkoth, Sindh, and who had been living in Dubai since a year, was travelling to work with his cousins – was intercepted by two vehicles.
What happened next has been detailed in court documents, based on official statements. Officers of the Emirates security forces present in the vehicles, got off, came towards them and asked which one Rashid Hussain was. When Rashid identified himself, they dragged him out of the car and took him with them. His cousins asked the officers where they were taking him, but they only said they should visit the police station to find out.
“My uncle was working in a company in Sharjah, as a painter (manual labourer),” says Mahzeb Shafiq. “He was not involved in anything criminal.”
Rashid was also known to be a Baloch activist, with staunch ideas.
“He was active on social media especially, on human rights issues,” adds Latif Baloch, from the Baloch Voice for Justice, an organization that speaks out for missing persons.
“They told us nothing about his detention,” says Mahzeb. “We tried to file a case in the police station but they didn’t even accept the case saying that such incidents never took place in the country, therefore it was impossible.”
The main problem was that Rashid had been picked up from a deserted place where there were no surveillance cameras either. So the family had no proof.
Deportation
A few days later, there was another raid at their home. This time it was the UAE police, and some officials from Pakistani intelligence agencies, dressed in plain clothes.
“They demanded us to hand over his passport, but we did not,” says Mahzeb. “For the next five to six hours, they hunted around the house, but left without finding it. Turning back, they told us, ‘You think we can’t send him back without his passport? We can’.”
The issue of his arrest was raised on January 17 by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have also raised the issue of his arrest by the Emirates security forces, without any charges and of being deported to Pakistan.
It became clearer that Rashid had been deported by Interpol to the Dalbandin airport Balochistan (used by the military), after Pakistani mainstream media revealed this sometime in June 2019. It said that Hussain had been arrested, six months ago in Dubai, UAE.
However, none of this was confirmed by the Emirates authorities.
According to a letter written by a member of the European Parliament to the Ambassador of UAE, an exit certificate had been seen, which says that Rashid Hussain left on June 22, 2019 for Nushki, in Balochistan, ‘a city which does not have a civilian airport’.
“It has also been reported to me that Rashid Husain left for Pakistan without any travel documents’, said the letter written by Jude Kirton-Darling, the EU parliament member from North East England. “I would ask you to confirm if this is correct and to shed light on the process that led to Rashid Hussain’s extradition to Pakistan,” the letter concludes. However, no response has come as yet.
In another letter written to UAE’s Minister of Interior, Rashid Hussain’s aunt living in UAE, Haleem Ramzan, said that there had been no cases filed against him in either Pakistan or he UAE.
“I have lost my two sons, my husband, and dozens of close relatives over the past 10 years at the hands of Pakistani state authorities,” she wrote. “The latest victim is my nephew Rashid Hussain Brohi.”
She details that they had moved to UAE due to the persecution they faced back home, due to their political stance. After six months of his disappearance and illegal custody the family found out that he had been deported.
“Rashid is a Baloch activist who has raised voice against the human rights violations by the state in Balochistan, against the Baloch people,” adds the letter, saying that Rashid had received threats to his life in June 2017 after which he migrated to UAE.
Protest
A campaign has been launched on May 3, 2024, to demand the release of the Rashid Hussain. Prominent human rights activists across social media from all spheres have commented on the issue.
Rashid Hussain was picked up in Dubai on December 26, 2018. He was held for 6 months & sent to Pakistan in June 2019 & handed over to the agencies. Since then, Rashid has been missing. Please join the campaign on May 3 from 7 pm-12 am & demand his safe return. #SaveRashidHussain pic.twitter.com/bndy8tJ9mW
— Nida Kirmani (@NidaKirmani) May 2, 2024
Government Stance
Meanwhile the Law Minister, Azam Nazeer Tarar, who had also once visited the Baloch missing persons’ camp in Quetta a year ago and had promised the families that there would be better development of cases soon, informed that at least 10,200 cases were sent to the commission, from which 7,900 cases had been resolved. “Now only about 20 percent cases remain,” he said recently at a press conference. He was flanked by Atta Tarar, the Information Minister.
The allegations of the involvement of government institutions cannot not be rejected outright, he admitted, but at the same time added that there was rarely any solid or concrete evidence for it. “From what I saw in the report, till I was on the committee, the answer is in the negative.” He also questioned if all inquiry reports, such as the one on missing persons, were always credible.
“Are people who have been registered as missing persons really missing?” he challenged. He also repeated similar thoughts at the recent Asma Jahangir Conference.
“We have been on the frontline of a war against terrorism, and we have paid a price for it,” he said. “This must be taken into consideration when looking for solutions for the missing persons’ issue. The problem is similar to the Afghan refugee issue. A political dialogue must take place for reconciliation.”
At the Asma Jahangir Conference, firebrand human rights activist from Balochistan, Mahrang Baloch also spoke about the issue.
“The cases of enforced disappearances have been a curse for the people of Balochistan. It is not a mere crime against humanity, but it is a tool utilized by the state to suppress the Baloch people and to loot their resources.”
She added that it was the women who had to take care of everything once their men had been picked up.
Women are the biggest victims of state violence, but they have lost their identities for this struggle. They are often recognized as sisters, wives mothers, and daughters of the violence victims. No one will ever come to know their real names and identities. No one can ever comprehend the pain of these mothers who received the mutilated bodies of their sons.”
Sent Back Home…But Where?
Mahzeb Shafiq, Rashid’s 15 year old niece has been taking care of everything to help her grandparents (Rashid’s parents). says they filed cases in the Sindh High Court first, then the Balochistan High Court.
“They didn’t even accept the case in SHC while in the BHC they kept forwarding the date of appearance,” she says. “We also filed a case in the Islamabad High Court with human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari, but even here they keep forwarding hearing dates, and delay appearances. The last hearing was months ago, during which our lawyer said that Rashid must be located and both countries must verify if they have him.”
Mahzeb says it is ridiculous how Rashid is being framed for providing funds for the attack on the Chinese consulate in 2018.
“They arrested 11 suspects, all of whom were missing at first but then they were brought to the front,” she says. “Their cases are also in court although not much is happening there. But Rashid is the only one missing.”
For the last six years, the family has been running back and forth, from courts to protest camps. “Rashid used to take care of us, but since he has disappeared, there has been no one else. I take care of everything now,” she says. “I am studying, but it is not regular because of all these disturbances.”
Mahzeb says they also filed a case in the government run Commission on Inquiry for Enforced Disappearances (COIED), but till now nothing positive could be seen anywhere.
“At the end of the day the argument remains the same,” she says. “There is a system in place where courts are running and if someone has been arrested for criminal activities they should be brought there. Instead when we go to court to wait for a hearing, we hear them saying, “aa gayi dehshatgardon ki family,” (the terrorist’s family is here), or “aa gaye jhoot bolne” (they are here to lie to us).”
The absence of their only son has ended up making Bibi Baaz Khatoon and Abdul Rasool (Rashid’s parents) sick with depression.
While Abdul Rasool is too old, ill and bed ridden to leave the house, Baaz Khatoon does not refrain from taking part in public protests for the release of her son. For her missing son, she is willing to travel anywhere.
Heart wrenching💔.
The honourable mother is distributing pamphlets about her beloved son Rashid Hussain Baloch in Quetta city. The struggle of families of abducted persons deserve many respects but the local media don’t have courage to coverage them.#SaveRashidHussain pic.twitter.com/bXEfQWpMJ6
— Fazila Baloch🌺☀️ (@IFazilaBaloch) May 3, 2024
Bring him to court if he is a culprit, she says, speaking in her native Brahvi language.
“There are thousands missing in Balochistan and we all must raise voice together to make a change,” says Mahzeb. “It is not justice when the law says no one can be detained endlessly, yet they put people in torture cells for weeks on end, and either they come out mentally unhinged, or we see their mutilated bodies dumped heartlessly somewhere. All we want is to relax peacefully inside our homes, and close our eyes without dreading if we are next in line. Is that too much to ask?”