HRCP condemns Ormara killings

Lahore, 19 April 2019. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has strongly condemned the brutal murder of at least 14 people near Ormara, Balochistan – including 11 security personnel – who were shot dead by gunmen while traveling from Karachi to Gwadar. HRCP has said that it is ‘shocked at the calculated way in which these passengers were identified by their identity cards, forcibly offloaded from buses by gunmen impersonating security personnel, and killed in cold blood.

‘That the three organisations who claimed responsibility for the attack have said openly that they were targeting security personnel, is a tragic reminder that militancy and wanton violence have not been rooted out of Balochistan, despite the province being heavily militarised for so long. It is not enough that these organisations are banned or that the state has expressed its outrage and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. Nor is it acceptable to mark this down to what the provincial home minister has termed “external elements.”

‘HRCP calls on the state, including all political parties in Balochistan, to take a united and coherent stand condemning militant violence under any circumstances, and to protect and promote the political process as the only legitimate means of ensuring that all citizens and residents of the province are given their due rights.’

Dr Mehdi Hasan

Chairperson