QUETTA: Chairman of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) Nasarullah Baloch on Sunday has asked for a political solution of the Balochistan quagmire, saying the use of force is further deteriorating a purely political problem that requires political solution.

Addressing to a news conference here at Quetta Press Club, he said that as many as 667 people reportedly went missing during the year 2016 and the dead bodies of 116 surfaced, adding that the use of force even in 2016 resulted in violation of human rights.

He alleged that complaints of the missing of women and children of Sumalani tribes in Bolan have been received and added that the use of force has compelled people to move out of their homes to safer places which has affected their jobs, education and health. Thus the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) increased in Balochistan as a result of the on-going conflict.

He said that the pending cases of missing persons were only heard twice during the outgoing year in Supreme Court and added that last year 70 people were also recovered out of whom 60 were set free after months of their captivity while 10 were set free after years.

He said that he is disappointed with the performance of Commission established in 2010 by the government for locating and releasing missing persons as it discharged 40 cases which were registered on the orders of Supreme Court.

He also questioned the performance of National Commission for Human Rights, saying that owing to its members, its status is only reduced to a paper organisation issuing statements to the newspapers.

He said that the role of media and organisations of human rights performance is also below the mark. Towards the end, he appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Human Rights Organisations and other concerned quarters to take notice of the violations of human rights and added that if there are any cases against the missing person, they should be produced before the courts and trialed.

He said that the allegations leveled by the spokesman of Government of Balochistan against VBMPs is baseless as the organisation is not working for any political ends but for the release of missing persons as 37 cases of missing persons were registered with it. It is rendering humanitarian service only and not involved in politics as claimed by the  Government.