Voice for Baloch Missing Persons
The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) is a non-governmental organization which represents family members of people who have been subject to enforced disappearance in Pakistan's province of Balochistan. VBMP records data on enforced disappearances; releases press statements; organises protests, rallies, and hunger strike camps; and facilitates the submission of first information reports and cases to Pakistani police stations and courts. Its Chairperson is Nasrullah Baloch and its Vice Chairperson is Mama Qadeer. It alleges that people are disappeared by Pakistan's security agencies, including the Pakistan Army, the Frontier Corps, and its various intelligence agencies including Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence (Pakistan). The VBMP calls for a political rather than military or violent solution to the low-level insurgency in Pakistan's province of Balochistan. The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIOED) was set up by the Government of Pakistan to investigate, trace, and prosecute on behalf of "such persons as has been picked up/taken into custody by any Law Enforcing/Intelligence Agency, working under the civilian or military control, in a manner which is contrary to the provisions of the law". In January 2018, it said that only 1,532 cases of enforced disappearances were pending, of which only 125 cases were from Balochistan. History of the VBMP Though the VBMP was formally founded on 27 October 2009, but its members have been active since the first known enforced disappearance, that of Ali Asghar Bangulzai in Balochistan in 2000. Ali Asghar Bangulzai was abducted in 2000 for 14 days and then released; he was abducted against in 2001 and remains missing to this day. Nasrullah Baloch supports the efforts of his family to find his uncle, Ali Asghar Bangulzai. The VBMP takes responsibility for pushing the Supreme Court of Pakistan to order that police stations issue First Information Reports demanded by families of the missing in 2010. In the same period, the VBMP was pushing the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take "suo motu" notice of missing persons in Balochistan. In 2011, the mutilated body of Jalil Rekhi, the son of VBMP Vice Chairperson Mama Qadeer was found, "with bullet wounds and cigarette burns." Rekhi was abducted in 2009. On 1 April 2011, VBMP Chairperson Nasrullah Baloch said that 121 bodies had been recovered in just eight months. At the same press conference, he announced hunger strike camps; he also said that he had a list of 1,300 Baloch missing persons. In 2012, the current head of the Government Commission Retired Justice Javed Iqbal conducted three days of hearings on Balochistan's missing persons but declared that the government agencies were not involved in abduction and enforced disappearances. On 18 September 2012, VBMP Chairperson Nasrullah Baloch said that he was receiving threats. On 12 September 2013, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that they had received documentation from the home and tribal affairs department of the province of Balochistan that 592 mutilated bodies had been found around the province. The VBMP said that the numbers were under-reported. Dawn also reported that another 132 cases