PAKISTAN Obaidullah Ali Baloch (m), aged 26 Samiullah Baloch (m), aged 24, his brother Brothers Obaidullah and Samiullah Baloch were arrested by unidentified men on
16 July 2006 in the Askari area of Quetta, Balochistan province. They have not been seen since then. They may have ‘disappeared’ and are at risk of torture.

In the afternoon of 16 July the two brothers were returning in a car from Quetta airport, where they are working on a government-funded construction project. When they noticed two jeeps following them, they sought protection from military and civil police at a checkpoint. However, the police refused to protect them. The brothers were forced to stop their vehicle, and the unidentified men, thought to be intelligence agents, arrested Obaidullah and Samiullah Baloch and forced them to get into separate jeeps. They were then driven away in the direction of a nearby military headquarters.

The family of Obaidullah and Samiullah Baloch believe that they were arrested in connection with the activities of their elder brother Sanaullah Baloch, who is a Senator and information secretary of the Balochistan National Party. He has recently been visiting other countries and discussing human rights violations in Balochistan. Neither Obaidullah nor Samiullah Baloch is involved in politics; nor had they previously been threatened.

The family are preparing to file a habeas corpus petition in the Quetta Court challenging the lawfulness of their arrest and seeking to establish their whereabouts. Senator Sanaullah Baloch described the arrest as "political victimisation" of innocent people, saying, "If the government has to settle political scores with me, I should be taken in, not my innocent brothers who have no link to my political struggle."

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A report issued by the non-governmental organization, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in late January 2006 found scores of cases of arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, extrajudicial executions, "disappearances" and use of excessive force by security and intelligence forces committed in Balochistan since early 2005. The findings of the HRCP fact-finding mission corroborate a large number of reports received by Amnesty International from Baloch activists and civil society organizations since early 2005. Amnesty International has issued several urgent actions expressing its
concern about arbitrary arrests and "disappearances" of political activists.

According to a January 2006 statement by Senator Sanaullah Baloch, at least 180 people have died in bombings, 122 children have been killed by paramilitary troops and hundreds of people have been arrested since the beginning of the campaign in early 2005. On 8 December 2005, the federal Interior Minister stated that some 4,000 people had been arrested in Balochistan since the beginning of 2005. The identities, whereabouts of and charges against many of these detainees remain unknown. Having monitored some of these cases of arrest, detention and "disappearance", Amnesty International believes that some of the detainees may have been arbitrarily detained. Some of those who were found, have been subsequently held under preventive detention legislation or on politically motivated criminal charges, in violation of Pakistan statutory law and international human rights standards.

A number of members of the Baloch Students Organisation (a group which campaigns on behalf of the people of Balochistan) who had previously ‘disappeared’ were recently released from detention. They stated that they had been tortured in detention including having their feet shackled, heads covered and use of electric shocks.