Is human meat being trafficked in Pakistan?
Revolting news was reported on Saturday by EP Today, “a monthly newspaper for European Parliament,”claiming that human meat is being sold in Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan.
The report, accompanied by several references and information, identified the popular Hannan Traders as where human meat is being supplied to several restaurants including the military camp stationed in Quetta. The EP Today reported that the human meat is that of missing persons, specifically activists who went missing after being abducted by armed forces in Balochistan.
However, many readers who read the article think it is a hoax, and even noticed that no government official commented on the tragedy.
Military sources from Quetta said “only an idiot would believe in such a news article,” however Baloch nationalists and a few families of missing persons pointed out that article could in fact be authentic.
Meanwhile, another victim of enforced disappearances who was coerced under torture and wishes to remain anonymous, said he was threatened several times behind bars to be killed then sold. To make his experiences believable, the man also named two persons affiliated with a local militant organization allegedly being sponsored by armed forces in Balochistan for selling human kidneys and livers to a hospital in Karachi and Hyderabad.
It is pertinent to mention here that earlier this year some extremely tortured bodies were discovered in Karachi having lost their heart, liver, kidneys, lungs and eyes. Among the deceased having lost their lungs, kidneys and eyes were also Abdul Rehman Baloch, 40, and Zahid Hussain, 24.
Their tortured and bullet-ridden dead bodies without heart, liver, kidneys, lungs and eyes were found in bushes near Link Road, Steel Town in Malir region of Karachi. Abdul Reham Baloch was a leader of the Baloch National Movement (BNM) and also a teacher at a government secondary school in Panjgur, and Hussain was a college student in Karachi.
Families of missing persons fear that in the past they used to receive bodies of their beloved ones with severe torture on their hearts and eyes sometimes holed with drill machines. But after a few years the system changed and bodies started appearing without some essential organs like the kidney and lung. A few families when interviewed argued that now the series of kill and dump policies have decreased as compared to the past days as now bodies are being sold for hotel purposes.
The EP Today also raised the following questions: Who are these deceased people whose bodies are being sold with cash price for acceptance to the trader? Where does the supplier to Hassan trader get these bodies from? Why has the supplier not revealed its identity? Why have the local police and army not broadcast the news?
The EP Today urged the international community to take the grievance in account and bring justice to the families and further added that
“If this situation would be suppressed by the Pakistani government in near future the province which is famous now for its natural resources would further be known as land of where humans are served by the armed forces dead or alive.”
Read more about the situation in Balochistan here. Please share this article on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
Kiyya Qadir Baloch is a freelance Baloch journalist associated with the Daily Times based in Islamabad. He reports on foreign affairs, Baloch insurgency, militancy and sectarian violence in Balochistan. Read other articles by Kiyya.
