Pakistan’s Supreme Court on
Tuesday started a probe on the discovery of a mass grave in the troubled
southwestern province of Balochistan amid calls for an inquiry by the
UN.
Officials said 13 decomposed corpses were found in a grave discovered in December 2013 in Khuzdar district of the province that borders Afghanistan and Iran.
The Khuzdar Administrator, Waheed Shah, told the court that only two of the corpses have been identified so far.
But the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan disputed the official’s account of the incident.
The commission’s Chairwoman, Zohra Yusuf, said “We heard from local people that the number of corpses is much higher than the number officially announced.”
Last week, Pakistan’s Chief Justice, Tasadduq Jillani, ordered the probe, calling the discovery “outrageous and shocking.”
Rights bodies often accused agents from Pakistani intelligence agencies of killing members of rebel groups to quell a decades-old insurgency in the province.
Several groups of Baloch insurgents are fighting against security forces to seek the independence of their province.
Rights activists have called upon the UN to send a fact-finding mission to probe the incident, expressing doubts about the inquiry being conducted by the court.
Officials said 13 decomposed corpses were found in a grave discovered in December 2013 in Khuzdar district of the province that borders Afghanistan and Iran.
The Khuzdar Administrator, Waheed Shah, told the court that only two of the corpses have been identified so far.
But the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan disputed the official’s account of the incident.
The commission’s Chairwoman, Zohra Yusuf, said “We heard from local people that the number of corpses is much higher than the number officially announced.”
Last week, Pakistan’s Chief Justice, Tasadduq Jillani, ordered the probe, calling the discovery “outrageous and shocking.”
Rights bodies often accused agents from Pakistani intelligence agencies of killing members of rebel groups to quell a decades-old insurgency in the province.
Several groups of Baloch insurgents are fighting against security forces to seek the independence of their province.
Rights activists have called upon the UN to send a fact-finding mission to probe the incident, expressing doubts about the inquiry being conducted by the court.
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