The United Nations (UN) has urged the Pakistani government to investigate the death of former senator Usman Kakar and the alleged existence of a “Kill List” containing the names of several individuals who should be killed. In a letter dated December 27, 2021, four UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights made the request.
The letter demanded that the government respond within sixty days, failing which the communication and any response would be made public and included in a report to the Human Rights Council. The absence of a government response in the letter indicates that none has been provided.
Usman Kakar, a Pashtun minority member, former senator, and regional leader of the nationalist Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, was discovered in his Quetta, Balochistan, home on June 17, 2021, bleeding profusely from a head wound. Even though the cause of the head injury is unknown, there is concern that he was attacked. In his last parliamentary address, former Senator Kakar claimed he had previously received death threats from intelligence services.
Morris Tidball-Binz, the Special Rapporteur on the extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions; Aua Baldé, the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Mary Lawlor, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and Fernand de Varennes, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, voiced concern over a rumored extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary execution in the “Kill List” in their joint correspondence.
The letter asserts that the list of at least ten individuals was published by the formerly recognized Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Facebook. This article references several social media posts by a former TTP member and militant who became an authority in April 2017.
In a media interview, the former TTP spokesman claimed that he was released from prison due to a deal with the security services. However, he had been asked to supervise a “death squad” tasked with killing “some people,” and the tweets referred to an agency-maintained “kill list.” “.
The former extremist also identified the two officers who had asked him to perform the task because it “was the only way to secure his release.”
The TTP spokesperson, Ehsanullah Ehsan, claimed in a June/July 2021 Facebook post that while in captivity, he was given a list of approximately ten individuals to be eliminated for “anti-state activities.”
Ehsan said the list included former senators Afrasiab Khattak and Farhatullah Babar, a political activist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Said Alam Mehsud, and Mufti Kifayatullah. Ehsan also claimed that he refused the orders to kill individuals.
The UN Rapporteurs stated that they did not wish to make any assumptions regarding the veracity of these claims. Still, they are concerned about Kakar’s death, its circumstances, and the alleged existence of a “kill list” containing many names.
Special Rapporteurs urged the government to “provide any additional information” regarding these allegations and “detailed information on the practical steps taken to ensure the physical and psychological integrity” of those on the list.
In addition, they inquired about the measures taken to ensure the legal and peaceful work of human rights advocates and those speaking out against Pakistan’s enforced disappearances.
 has urged the government of Pakistan to investigate the death of former senator Usman Kakar and an alleged "Kill List){kind=link}