Demanding an immediate end to the growing trend of enforced disappearances and release of all those reported missing from across the country, human rights activists and families of missing persons organised a day-long protest outside the Karachi Press Club on Friday.
A statement issued by the organisers, the Committee for Release of Missing Persons and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, besides calling for the tyrannical practice to be abolished, stated that it was important to make the masses aware of the fact that forcibly disappearing people was a violation of human rights.
Calling for all those abducted to be presented in courts forthwith, the protesters maintained that among the purposes of setting up the camp was to appeal to the federal and provincial governments, the judiciary and the police to fulfil their constitutional responsibilities.
Citing constitutional clauses, the statement highlighted that no person could be taken into custody without being informed of the charges against them and that it was the right of every person to be provided the counsel of a lawyer of their own choosing.
The constitution further ensures that a person arrested has to be presented before a judicial magistrate within 24 hours and that they cannot be kept in custody without the permission of the magistrate, the statement said.
For the prevalence of political order and rule of law, it is pertinent that an arrested person is not kept in custody for longer than three months, the constitution further maintains. Moreover, the constitution clearly says that making arrangements for the concerned person to file an appeal against their arrest was the responsibility of the state.
Criticising the institutions behind enforced disappearances, HRCP Sindh’s vice chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt said it seemed that the perpetrators had no regard for the missing people to be given the rights owed to them under the constitution as citizens of this country. He demanded that all those picked up be presented in court because only the courts had the authority to decide who was a criminal and who wasn’t.
Speaking to The News, the sister and aunt of two missing Shias, Sumbul Jaffery, said her brother Shiraz Hyder and her nephew were picked up from Jafferia Society from Hyder’s house on November 15, 2016. Their whereabouts remain unknown since.
The woman maintained that neither her brother nor the nephew were associated with any religious or political organisations but only used to look after Muharram arrangements. “We filed a petition soon after the incident happened, but so far the court has only been able to issue summons to concerned authorities and keeps giving us dates for the next hearing.”
Representing families of Shia missing persons, Rashid Rizvi said if a man declared an Indian agent had the right to meet his people, than so do all other citizens of this country. “Release all missing persons and produce them in court,” he demanded.
Rizvi also called for state institutions to provide monetary compensation to families whose loved ones were fortunate enough to be released. Besides a number of Shia, Baloch and Sindhi missing persons’ families, the sister of abducted University of Karachi student, Sagheer Baloch, also attended the camp.