The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and another UN expert to the Government of Pakistan on 6 December 2023. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. Regrettably, the Government did not reply within this time frame. If a reply is received it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
Since the sending of the communication, Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s family have reportedly continued to be subjected to harassment by the military. On 2 January 2024, the human rights defender’s father was summoned to the military’s main camp in Awaran, where he was questioned about his son and presented with false claims that the latter had been in Karachi in December 2023 – despite Lateef Johar Baloch living in Canada. His father was also forced to provide the phone numbers of his other two sons.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the alleged threats against Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch and his family, which appear to be in relation to his human rights work.
Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch is a human rights defender who advocates against human rights violations in Balochistan, specifically those committed by the Pakistani military, including enforced disappearances, and the exploitation of natural resources in the province and the detrimental impact on the local population. In 2016, Mr. Johar Baloch was granted asylum in Canada, where he continues to carry out his human rights activities, including the production of educational books and translations into Balochi of international human rights mechanisms, to allow families of the disappeared and victims of other violations to report these allegations to the relevant international human rights bodies. Mr. Johar Baloch also writes about human rights issues in Balochistan for media outlets and collaborates with NGOs to highlight these concerns. In 2014, Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch went on hunger strike for 46 days, to protest the issue of enforced disappearance in Pakistan. It was in the months following this, that Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch left Pakistan due to concerns for his well-being.
ALLEGATIONS
In September 2015, Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch sought asylum in Canada as a result of the threats he was facing in relation to his peaceful human rights activities and was granted asylum in January 2016. In the years since, Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s family who remain in Balochistan have reportedly been subjected to repeated acts of harassment and singular attacks by the military.
In November 2015, the military reportedly conducted a search on the home of Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s parents in the village of Karki Kad, for which no reason was provided. Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s mother and sister were the only ones in the house at the time. During the search, the family’s passports, IDs and other documents were taken by the military, as well as 2 Lakh PKR cash, as well as other valuable personal belongings. Following the search, the military reportedly set the house on fire and it burned to the ground. The home of Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s brother was also reportedly set on fire by the military, but the fire was extinguished before the house was destroyed. The personal identity documents, cash and other items seized during the search have to date not been returned to Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s family.
On 8 August 2017, the military conducted a search on the homes of Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s parents and those of his siblings. The military reportedly forced Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s family members to leave, and occupied their houses for four days, forcing them to seek refuge in the house of an uncle in the village of Chiggardi in Páho.
In March 2020, Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s brother began to be summoned by the military to the nearby checkpoint. He initially refused to comply with the summonses, due to fear of what may happen to him, but eventually obliged. Upon arriving at the checkpoint, Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s brother was reportedly detained and subjected to treatment amounting to torture, including being hung upside down and as a result repeatedly losing consciousness. The military were reportedly attempting to extract information as to Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s whereabouts, despite the fact he had been residing in Canada at that point for a number of years. Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s brother was also reportedly questioned about the family’s financial matters That night, the elder brother of Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch was reportedly called by the military to their younger brother, who reportedly could hardly move as a result of the treatment he had been subjected to. Following this incident, he had a number of medical check-ups at the hospital in Awaran but continued to suffer from mobility issues for a number of weeks.
On a prior occasion in the same year, Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s brother had been arrested in Awaran town whilst accompanying his mother for a medical appointment. He was reportedly taken to a military camp and allegedly arbitrarily detained for a number of hours, during which time he was questioned about Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s human rights work. Upon releasing him later that day, the military reportedly threatened that if Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch did not cease his advocacy work, there would be dire consequences for his family. As a result of these incidents in 2020, Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s brother left Karki Kad and relocated to another city.
Since early 2021, Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s father has been summoned by the military every week. Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s father was reportedly required to sit outside the nearby military checkpoint from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. every Monday, until April 2023, which is the last time he was summoned, before the military base was relocated. During these summonses, the military are reported to have told him to coerce Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch to return to Pakistan and that he would be provided “with security”.
On 14 October 2023, the military reportedly cordoned off Karki Kad and following this, conducted new searches on the homes of Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch’s parents and siblings. No other houses in the village were subjected to such search. This new search was reportedly carried out by the Frontier Corps (FC) of the military, who reportedly provided no explanation as to its necessity.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express grave concerns at the reported pattern of harassment and intimidation against the family of Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch, spanning a number of years, which we have reason to believe is in connection with his legitimate human rights activities.
We are concerned that the allegations of arbitrary detention and treatment amounting to torture of his brother; the routinized harassment and intimidation of his father; and the raids on his family’s home with seemingly no legal basis, are cumulatively and individually aimed at intimidating and deterring Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch from carrying out his human rights activities.
Our concern is compounded by the fact that Mr. Lateef Johar Baloch is no longer residing in the jurisdiction of the Pakistani Government, notably due to the reported harassment and intimidation he was subjected to in connection with his human rights activities.
