Kharotabad Incident: FC and Police Shoot Five Unarmed Foreigners, Quetta, 2011

katzmeow · #1 ● 08-17-2014, 11:13 AM

The events known as the Kharotabad incident took place on May 17, 2011, beside the International Highway near the Quetta airport in Pakistan. At a checkpoint, police and Frontier Corps personnel shot and killed five foreign nationals who were unarmed. The dead comprised three women and two men; four were Russian citizens from Dagestan, while the fifth was a Tajik. One woman was pregnant. Officials claimed that the group consisted of Chechen suicide bombers and had attacked the post. The bomb disposal squad, however, found no explosives. Footage recorded there captured a woman lying on the ground and lifting an arm when the gunfire paused, after which shooting began again. The police surgeon responsible for the autopsies testified that every victim had died from gunshots fired at close range and that none was carrying explosives. A judicial tribunal ruled that the shooting was unjustified and recommended measures against police and Frontier Corps officials. No convictions followed. Later that year, the surgeon, Dr. Baqir Shah, was shot and killed in Quetta. Two police officials involved in the incident were also killed in subsequent years.

**kellyhound** · #2 ● 08-17-2014, 11:58 AM

QUETTA: The Kharotabad tribunal has held police and Frontier Corps (FC) responsible for the killing of five foreigners in Quetta, an official source with access to the tribunal report said on Thursday.
The report says Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Dawood Junejo and the Lieutenant Colonel of FC had mishandled the situation and recommends that action be taken against them. It also states that Station House Officer (SHO) Kharotabad Fazal Rehman and Assistatant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Raza Khan are also responsible for the incident and calls for strict action against them.
The tribunal also said that even though the foreigners had entered Pakistan illegally, there was no reason to kill them.
The tribunal also recommended that bomb disposal equipment be made available at all police stations.
The chief minister of Balochistan had earlier sent the judicial report to the Balochistan chief secretary and asked him that recommendations be implemented in letter and spirit. He has also directed that the report be made public so that the people of Balochistan are aware of not only the details of the incident but also the findings of the tribunal.
Five foreigners, including three women, were gunned down by Frontier Corps and police personnel on May 17 in Kharotabad, a suburb of Quetta. While security forces officials claimed that those killed were suicide bombers, the police surgeon who conducted autopsies found no indication that the foreigners, four Russians and one Tajik, carried explosives.
The incident was caught on tape by a journalist and, once aired, the video caused public outrage prompting the Balochistan government to form a judicial tribunal to probe the incident. Over a month-long hearing, the tribunal recorded the statements of 28 witnesses and submitted its report, comprising over 80 pages, to the government