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Dec 4, 2009
A Baloch’s tale of the torture cell
Shafi Baloch, a student and the Junior Joint Secretory of
B.S.O. Azaad, working for the independence of Balochistan,
was recently released by authorities after
being tortured by Pakistan’s armed forces.
He was arrested by Barori Police and later disappeared.
Police deny ever arresting him. After his
release, Mr. Baloch was admitted to a hospital in Quetta
where he described the methods of
torture used by security forces to wish to create a climate
of fear amongst those Baloch who are seeking independence.
Below is Shafi Baloch's statement:
“I was arrested infront of Bolan Medical College
Quetta when I was returning home after attending a public
gatering in the college. At the time i was being taken away
I was severly beaten by the officials of Barori police station
and was then taken to the police station where I was abused
and humiliated in every way possible, they kept on beating
me and asking me questions about the contacts I had saved
in my cell phone, after being beaten for about two hours
I was blindfolded and taken to some higher official where
I was welcomed with punches and kicks coming from all the
sides, I didn’t knew whether it was police or the army
of Pakistan as I was unable to see anything. After asking
me several questions regarding India’s, Afghanistan’s
and America’s invovlment in the Baloch freedom movement
and not getting satisfactory answers I was taken to some
far place as it took quite a while for us to reach there.
Each question was asked with a kick or punch on the sensitive
parts of my body but I didn’t knew even bitter things
were about to come. As I was brought to this new place I
was unblinded in a very dark cell, and I was asked to admit
that the students organization (Baloch Student Organization
Azaad) I am working for is involved in the armed struggle
against Pakistan army, but as our organization is unarmed
and I didn’t had any idea of what to reply I was turned
naked and hanged upside down for about two days, where I
was given nothing to eat, from time to time some guy came
and talked with me in Punjabi (language spoken by the ruling
ethnic group in Pakistan) and asked to admit that I was a
terrorist and getting a negative response he beated me severly.
Once an army official who looked quite gentle with beard
on his face wrote “Baloch” with a sharp pen on
my forehead and then he urinated on that. I was beaten severly
by that official and while he was beating me he kept on singing “ Long
Live Pakistan”. I was also given electric shocks after
the person urinated on face, the electric shocks made me unconscious
for a while, but as i came back in my senses further shocks
were given so that i may not have a moment of relief.
I was told by an interogator that the cell I was kept in
also contained Maulana Farooq Sanjrani, Safar Khan Marri
and Hassan Marri (Baloch abductees), and I also heard sounds
of helicopters landind and taking off outside the cell I
was kept in. I was also able to hear other Baloch friends
who were kept in the adjacent barracks as they spoke with
each other in Balochi or Brahvi (languages apoken by Baloch
people). The torture I faced was inhuman and barbaric, but
I still believe myself amonst the luckier ones as their in
the cells I came to know of Balochs who were phsically paralysed
and many were facing mental illnesses and had lost their
mental capabilities. After being severly tortured in the
way I mentioned I was again a day blindfolded and was thrown
out of a car on some road, I didn’t knew where it was
as I was not concious enough to even recongnize people, at
the time I was being leaved I was asked not to speak a word
of what happened to me or else they would kill me, but today
I am speaking to let the world know about the conditions
which thousands of other Balochs are facing in the torture
cells of Pakistan.”
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