ISLAMABAD: A large number of Human rights activists Tuesday staged protest demonstrations in Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi demanding safe and quick recovery of four social media activists disappeared from different parts of the country in last a few days.
In Islamabad a rally was staged in front of the National Press Club. The protesters were holding placards inscribed with slogans of freedom of expression and recovery of disappeared activists and pictures of Salam Haider. They chanted slogans and made fiery speeches to stress their demands while holding government responsible for the early recovery of rights activist Salman Haider who disappeared from Banigala on January 7 and other activists including Waqar Goraya, Amir Saeed, Ahmed Raza, and Zeenat Shehzaadi.
The protesters were joined by the political party leaders, mostly from Pakistan People’s Party as they vowed to continue their protest inside and outside Parliament until the disappeared activists were recovered.
Speaking on this occasion, Senator Afrasiab Khattak said enforced disappearance was not a recent phenomenon. “This has been happening in different parts of the country for many years and now it has reached the capital. If we had protested strongly against such acts in past, this would have not happened in the capital.”
He said whoever was behind the disappearances was a criminal and must be tried in the court. “We will continue our protest inside and outside Parliament until those behind these disappearances were caught, tried and punished,” he said and added that freedom of expression is their basic right and no state or non-state actor could deprive Pakistani nation of its basic right.
Speakers linked these disappearances with the recent approval of Pakistan Electronic Crime Act from the Parliament. “We protested against the draconian law at the time when it was brought to Parliament but we were told that it would protect the social media activists. The practice is absolutely opposite to the commitments made,” said Akhunzada Chataan from PPP. He suggested forming a committee of parliamentarians from National Assembly and Senate to negotiate with the security agencies so that this communication gap and lack of accountability could be addressed.
Farhat Ullah Babar appreciated the civil society for their effort and assured his support both inside and outside the Senate. He termed the situation alarming. “Islamabad was considered safe but such incidents in the capital shows that all activists as well as politicians are in danger,” he said.
He said that they had called special meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights to discuss this issue. “Senate chairman has also called minister for interior to update the House on the progress in the investigation,” he said.
Babar termed this a prime responsibility of the state machinery to recover Salman Haider and other activists at the earliest. He also called for the early approval of law to bring security agencies under the law.
Rights activist Tahira Abdulla demanded safe recovery of Salman and other activists. She also criticised Electronic Crime Act and demanded the government to repeal the law as it had failed to provide security to the people. She urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take sue moto notice of the incident. She also questioned the performance of Commission on Enforced Disappearances formed by the government.
Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy said that Salam Haider disappeared because he expressed his progressive view openly. “On one hand, those who want the country to prosper disappear whereas those who want to take the country back to stone age are given open hand and protection,” he said.
Activist Farzana Bari expressed serious concern over the safety of disappeared activists. She said that space was shrinking for those who believed in pluralism, diversity and humanity. She said that civil society would continue its struggle against the repressive state policies.
The protesters also lit candles in the memory of Irfan Ali, an activist from Hazara community, who lost his life along with other 125 Hazaras in a blast on Alamdaar Road four years ago.
Agencies add: Human Rights Watch asked authorities to investigate the apparent abductions as a matter of urgency. “The Pakistani government has an immediate obligation to locate the four missing human rights activists and act to ensure their safety,” said Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director.
“The nature of these apparent abductions puts the … government on notice that it can either be part of the solution or it will be held responsible for its role in the problem.”
Shahzad Ahmad, director of Bytes for All, a human rights group focused on online security, said the disappearances had spooked social media activists, and several had deactivated their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
“We are concerned over the recent roundup of social media activists, which we see as a threat to freedom of expression, association and assembly in online spaces,” he said. The arrests were designed to “silence and smear” those who challenge the establishment and speak against human rights violations in the country, he said.
Security sources have denied any involvement, while a group of MPs have called the disappearances “highly concerning”.
“The pattern of these disappearances suggests that it is a planned and coordinated action, undertaken to silence voices which are critical of prevalent socio-political issues in Pakistan,” they wrote in a parliamentary resolution.
Monitoring Desk adds: According to a report from London four social media activists with outspoken, secular and anti-establishment views have gone missing in Pakistan in recent days, sparking fears of a crackdown on leftwing dissenters, reports foreign media.
“Forced disappearances” are usually directed against those suspected of involvement in terrorism or violent separatism.
One of the four men, Asim Saeed, was abducted from his home in Lahore on Friday after he had returned from working in Singapore. Ahmad Waqas Goraya, another online activist who is usually based in Holland, was detained on the same day, his friends say.
According to a statement given by Saeed’s father to the police, four men arrived at the house in a pickup truck and “forcefully took him away”.
“I made all efforts to locate my son but I have been unable to trace him,” his statement said.
At the time of Saeed’s abduction, the IT worker was carrying his laptop and two mobile phones.
Salman Haider, a lecturer at Fatima Jinnah Women University, failed to come home on Friday. His wife received a mysterious message from his phone saying he was abandoning his car on the Islamabad-Rawalpindi motorway. The car was later recovered by police.
On Saturday the interior minister said he had urged police to find Haider, a playwright, poet and editor of a magazine. Relatives of the fourth man, Ahmed Raza Naseer, say he was taken from his family’s shop in the Punjab district of Sheikhupra on Saturday.