The United Nations has urged the government of Pakistan to investigate the death of former senator Usman Kakar, who was found in his house in Quetta, Balochistan, with blood flowing from a head injury, and an alleged “Kill List” that names several individuals to be eliminated.
Four UN special rapporteurs on human rights, including Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; members of Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and Special Rapporteur on minority issues, wrote a joint letter to the government of Pakistan on December 27 last year and which was only made public yesterday.
Regional leader of the nationalist Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Usman Khan Kakar passed away in 2021 from a head injury that he had sustained at his residence in Quetta. The cause of the head injury remains unclear.
According to Dawn, the UN special rapporteurs on human rights have urged the government to investigate the death in unclear circumstances of Usman Kakar, while calling on the government to reply within 60 days. Failing this, they said, “this communication and any response received from the government will be made public and also made available in the report to the Human Rights Council”.
Regarding the ‘Kill List’ that has been posted by former spokesperson of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Ehsanullah Ehsan on Facebook and names at least 10 individuals, the UN officials asked the authorities about the measures taken to ensure the safety of the individuals named in the list.
In a Facebook post in June/July, 2021, the TTP spokesperson had alleged that while in captivity he was given a list of about 10 people who were required to be eliminated for their “anti-state activities”. Ehsanullah Ehsan also claimed that he had declined to carry out the assassination orders.
The list included former senators Afrasiab Khattak and Farhatullah Babar, political activist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Said Alam Mehsud, and Mufti Kifayatullah.
