Baloch journalist Sajid Hussain’s wife, Shehnaz had expressed apprehensions that her husband sensed being followed before fleeing to Sweden.
Hussain, Editor-in-Chief of Balochistan Times, who has been found dead on Friday in a Swedish town, had been missing from the city of Uppsala since March 2 and a formal case was filed with the Swedish police on March 3.
The important aspect to be noted is Sajid Hussain who had documented the gross human rights violations by Pakistan in the strife-torn region of Balochistan, has been found dead after his mysterious disappearance since March 2.
A report in Dawn, dated March 30, cites his wife, Shehnaz as saying that “he had worked on the issue of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, but his report exposing a top drug lord Imam Bheel in 2012 led to some threats”. He also sensed being followed, she said.
“Then some people broke into his house in Quetta when he was out investigating a story. They took away his laptop and other papers too. After that he left Pakistan in September 2012 and never came back,” Shehnaz had been quoted as saying in the report.
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The dissidents and critics of the Pakistan authorities, who are living in exile are under contant fear as the criticism of the military in Pakistan has always been frowned upon. People who criticise military and its policies are harassed by agencies.
Sajid was vocal in raising atrocities committed against the Baloch people in Pakistan by the country’s army establishment. He wrote extensively on the suffering of the Balochis at the hands of the Pakistani military establishment.
Sajid Hussain is the nephew of Shaheed Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, the founder of the Baloch National Movement.
Balochistan is a restive province where the Pakistani military is accused of indulging in gross human rights violations including abducting and killing of innocents.
Resource-rich Balochistan has been gripped by an insurgency for more than 15 years. The family members and relatives of Baloch political leaders and workers had always faced state brutalities and barbarism in Balochistan.
There have been several instances where Pakistani security forces conduct operations on individual households, physically assault innocent women and children, and rely on extrajudicial death squads to subjugate Baloch civilians.
Thousands of Baloch political activists in order to avoid persecution escaped from Balochistan and are compelled to seek asylum in European counties; journalists and human rights activists are among these asylum seekers.
(With ANI inputs)