The Right to Bury the Deceased – Nadir Baluch

Even though the degradation of a corpse’s dignity is against international and non-international conflict laws, and also a subject of religious and cultural concern; it is also perceived as a war offense, but many states have dishonored the formulated laws of wars.

War commences among opponents due to numerous duels; thus, war is perceived as a large-scale duel because it makes up a war. Battles are of various types: Civil war, Limited war, General war, and war that is fought for self-determination; during such armed conflicts, many become subject to torture, many lose their lives in imprisonment and many are incarcerated as prisoners of war, so the legal possession, control, treatment, and disposition of a corpse or alive has always been an intricate issue.The ill-treatment and mutilation of the dead is not only a transgression of the provisions of the Geneva Convictions of 1949 [GC I-VI] and other international humanitarian laws but also handing over the corpse of the dead to their families is comprehended as the basic humanitarian aim.

Therefore, People who succumb during armed conflicts should be treated with honor and their dignity must be preserved in accordance with international and domestic standards__ it is also mandatory for parties to guarantee the identification of the dead and documentation of all accessible information associated with the corpse without any adjournment before disposing.

Although wars are brutal and mistreatment, humiliation, sexual violence and degeneration of the deceased were certain in such historical events, with the passage of time and the evolution of human consciousness, the prisoners of war laws have significantly improved hitherto being desecrated by some countries.

Short History of Prisoners of War

In ancient wartime, captives who did not have sufficient money to be swapped for ransom, they were kept enslaved as laborers, with the rise of professional armies and centralized states, this inhuman exercise altered to regular swap of prisoners. Similarly, during the US Revolutionary War (1775-83), albeit captured military officials were exchanged, but the bulk of soldiers were not because they were considered rebels and were treated as criminals. In Mexican War (184-48) Texans’ treated the US Army miserably, but the Mexican treated the POWs with dignity and fairly. Aftermath of the world wars, presented laws and treaties of war approved by many countries.

According to Article 3 to the four Geneva Conviction of 1949, all parties to armed conflicts whether government or non-government should protect the captured prisoners of war (POWS) whether civilians or combatants against ill-treatment, particularly, the assassination of all sorts, mutilation, brutal treatment, and torture.

As per the report of United Nations, approximately, 136 war detainees of Ukraine (18 women and 118 men) were interviewed who were captured by Russian armed forces, after their surrender was negotiated, they said they were treated with reverence and they provided medication to those in need of medical care.

In addition, the stance of Islam is explicit on this issue which emphasizes that the remains of a dead during military engagement should be collected and given a proper burial. Also, in Islamic context, the cremation is prohibited because it is ruminated that it is transgression of the dignity of human body. The holy Quran’ verse (16-:126-127) rigorously forbids the mutilation of the dead bodies of a foe.

Similar to other war-torn countries, Pakistan is accused of breaching the laws of war exclusively in Baluchistan. According to Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) report, thousands of people are abducted by Pakistani law enforcement agencies from various segments of Baluchistan. Pakistani army and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) are engaged in grave human rights infractions as aforementioned from mutilation, degeneration, mass graves, torture, and demolishing of tombs of deceased Baloch insurgents, to forcing families to sign forms that their sons are terrorists.

Precisely, an investigation conducted by The Baloch Circle (TBC) on aggravating enforced disappearance cases during December 2023 has unveiled the following: from the documented cases, around 56 to 57 people have been abducted from various walks of life and segments of Baluchistan, some of them later on released and the majority of them are still missing. At last, a lawsuit of a victim is reported who passed away aftermath of being severely tortured. In addition, other cases are reported in September, July, August, November, and October.

From the aforementioned shred of evidence, it is ascertained that the illicit practice of enforced disappearances is going on in Baluchistan as well and the torture of victims, highlights the urgent need for an instantaneous investigation and global attention to address this crisis in Baluchistan.

Also, in majority of instances, the authorities have denied to hand over the remains of deceased to their families. For example, when one of insurgent groups of Baluchistan Baloch liberation army invaded the military camp in Mach, thirteen members embraced martyrdom as per the statement of spokesperson. They also provided pictures and all information about their deceased fighters, on contrary, the army in the name of clearance operation, assassinated previously detained missing persons among them a corpse face was distorted by using acid to conceal his identification. It is against international and non-international as well as religious laws as mentioned above.

Moreover, recently, Baloch Liberation Army attacked the headquarters of secretive agencies in Gwadar and PNS Siddique Naval Air Base in Turbat where aftermath of these invasions, the Pakistani denied to hand over the bodies of deceased fighters to their families and forced them to sign a form by accepting their loved ones were terrorists. The mother of a deceased fighter says in a video that our sons are not terrorists for they have not attacked army in Punjab the army have come here and have occupied our lands by killed our people. We have not asked for gold and other material wealth but return of our corpses. This land belongs to us and we will not compromise with the blood of our martyrs because we are not better than them unless they hand over the dead bodies, we will demonstrate and we will not sign any form.

Concluding Remarks

Disposition of a dead is concerning religiously and culturally as well as mistreatment of deceased is against the international humanitarian law and Geneva Convictions. Wars are of various types and war is defined as a ferocious conflict between nations and states. All parties to an armed conflicts are obliged to search the remains as soon the conflicts end record all available information related to the dead before disposing the corpse. Islam strictly forbids the mutilation of dead body of an enemy as well as demands a proper burial. Despite the aforementioned international laws and religious prohibition of mistreatment of prisoners of wars whether deceased or alive, Pakistani army is engaged in infringement of human rights in Baluchistan. Pakistani law enforcement agencies have committed all type of human right infractions from abduction, mass grave, and assassination of beforehand detained missing persons in fake encounters, to abetting dead squads in murdering Baloch, forcing families to sign form that their loved ones are terrorists in return of their corpses. It is exhorted and urged to international human rights champions to intervene in Baluchistan to avert the ongoing grave human right violations.