QUETTA - Commander Southern Command Lt Gen Javed Zia has recently out-rightly spurned the notion that Pak Army or Frontier Corps Balochistan (FC) was involved in killing Baloch missing persons and dumping their bodies. However, he admitted without naming the intelligence agencies personnel by saying 'certain elements who do not believe in the courts of law are involved in the killing and throwing the bodies of Baloch political workers. 'But even that it is not right, he added. He said that there is no policy of military top brass headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani that Baloch missing persons were being killed and their bodies were thrown in desolate streets. He realised killing and dumping bodies of Baloch youth is a very serious and highly sensitive issue and caused immense hatred in Balochistan. He also feared that if incidents of killing and dumping bodies of Baloch missing persons are not stopped it would badly harm the solidarity of Pakistan and may cause break away of Balochistan. Javed Zia expressed these views during his first ever chat with local journalists and newspaper Editors last week in Quetta Cantonment. A circle of political parties have appreciated the statement coming from a senior General like him and think that there is realisation in the top echelon of military about the grim situation of Balochistan particularly the killing of missing persons and tossing their bodies in isolated areas. 'We welcome the recent statement of Lt Gen Javed Zia that killing and dumping bodies of Baloch youth is a very serious and sensitive issue. But it is very strange, to say that Army and Frontier Corps are not involved in such incidents, remarks former Senator and convener PML-N Balochistan chapter Khuda-e-Noor. He said these incidents should come to an end forthwith and his (Commander Southern Command) blaming 'certain elements for killing political workers and dumping their bodies was absolutely wrong ,adding, it is Frontier Corps and intelligences agencies who are openly violating the Constitution by whisking away Baloch youth and throwing away their mutilated bodies. But on the other hand, Baloch nationalist leaders have vehemently rejected the statements of Lt Gen Javed Zia, saying the situation had gone out of the control of State agencies. They say that the kill and dump policy adopted by intelligence agencies has also become a matter of concern for top brass in Army which was trying to mislead the people by giving false statements. 'There are two sections in Pakistani Army, one is busy in committing genocide of Baloch people while the other is trying to solve the issue through negotiations and dialogue, says Dr Hakeem Lehri , a senior Baloch nationalist and leader of Baloch Republican Party. He said decomposed bodies of Baloch youth were being recovered before, the Federal Cabinet meeting in Quetta and after it, the series of decomposed bodies recovery has increased. 'Such statements on the part of Army are aimed at to cover up the crimes of Army, he remarked. He asked:'who are the 'certain elements definitely the intelligence agencies who are behind the killing of Baloch youth. Nasrullah Baloch President Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), a local organisation struggling for the recovery of Baloch missing persons said security forces in FCs dress pick up a number of Baloch youth and later their decomposed bodies are thrown in deserted areas while in a number of FIRs the relatives of missing persons nominated FC for whisking their kith and kin. 'FC carried out a raid in Tutak area of Khuzdar in February this year in which two workers of Baloch Students Organisation were killed while security forces picked up 11 people, including Maqsood Qalandarani whose decomposed body was later found on July 16th, in the outskirts of Quetta packed in sack while the rest were missing, he added. He said that the recent statement of Javed Zia is a surprise since the international humanitarian organisations, including Amnesty International in their reports have also held intelligence agencies and FC responsible for killing and dumping bodies of Baloch youth. 'Intelligence agencies are more powerful than judiciary for not abiding by the law and are involved in killing and dumping of bodies of Baloch missing persons, he claimed. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its recent report titled 'Balochistan: blinkered slide into chaos accuse the State security forces, particularly the Frontier Constabulary of their involvement in the cases of enforced disappearances. The report mentioned the record of 140 such cases from July 2010 to May 2011 and a large number of bodies are of university students. 'We strongly condemn the extra-judicial killings and only police have the right to investigate a person if he is involved in any crime and the decision of punishment should be with the judiciary, says Tahir Hussain Khan Advocate Vice Chairperson HRCP Balochistan chapter. He said that if a high-ranking military official did not know about the killers of Baloch missing persons then who would know about them. 'If missing persons have committed any crime then they should be produced before a court of law but all including Governor and Chief Minister are powerless, he added. He said neither provincial nor Federal government is taking steps to resolve the issue of missing persons and it is regrettable if the issue goes unsolved in this democratic government. Balochistan once the peaceful province of the country but the law and order situation of the province headed towards deterioration when former President Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf carried out a military action in Dera Bugti and Kohlu in 2005 that resulted into the killing of veteran Baloch nationalist leader and former Chief Minister and Governor Balochistan Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti on August 26th, 2006. After killing of Nawab Bugti, the insurgency instead of dying penetrated into whole Baloch dominated districts, including Makran division which was used to be very calm. Baloch nationalist leaders claim more than 12,000 political workers and leaders have been picked by security forces and intelligence agencies and are languishing in different torture cells. But the horrific trend of killing and dumping bodies of Baloch missing political workers started when leader of Baloch National Movement, Ghulam Muhammad Baloch, Sher Muhammad Baloch and Lal Munir were picked by security and intelligence agencies in broad daylight from the chamber of Kachkol Ali Advocate from Turbat in 2009. After few days of their missing their decomposed bodies were recovered. More than 180 bullet-riddled bodies of missing persons have so far been recovered. The straightforward remarks of Javed Zia over the killing of Baloch missing persons have sent a blow to Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani who have been saying Baloch militants are killing Baloch people and Baloch armed groups targeting each other to fix the blame on security agencies.