Human rights body asks authorities for information on missing activists

Sends written request to home, law secretaries and Rangers, police chiefs

The Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has requested the authorities to provide them with information on reported cases of enforced disappearances of rights activists across the province.

Signed by SHRC Chairperson Justice (retd) Majida Razvi, the written request has been forwarded to the home and law secretaries as well as the Rangers and police chiefs.

“The commission is extremely concerned about such reports [of rights activists’ enforced disappearances] surfacing in the media and the complaints being received from the families,” reads the letter.

“The commission has been receiving information through various channels that since last one week dozens of human rights activists have disappeared reportedly [at the hands of] the law enforcement agencies. The families of all the disappeared persons are still unaware of the whereabouts of their loved ones.”

The human rights body pointed out that police and other law enforcement agencies’ personnel reportedly stormed into the houses of activists without any arrest warrants, “which clearly depicts the highhandedness of the officials”.

Majida said the SHRC was a statutory body established under the Sindh Protection of Human Rights Act 2011 that empowered the commission to work as a watchdog for the protection of the fundamental human rights across the province.

Pakistan is a signatory to various international treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 that bounds the state to ensure fundamental freedom to the people within the parameters of its legal framework, she added.

“Moreover, Pakistan has been granted the GSP Plus status by the European Union over the condition of implementing its associated treaties regarding fundamental human rights.”

The commission clarified that it believed a person accused of misconduct or any illegal act must be produced before the relevant court of law and their whereabouts disclosed to their immediate relatives.

Taking into consideration the law of the land, it is the fundamental right of the accused to have access to fair trial, stated the letter. “This may be taken as a top priority matter.”

A number of political activists from various parts of the province have gone missing in recent months, according to rights activists and media reports.

One among them is Punhal Sario, a prominent civil society activist who was convener of the Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh.

A large number of civil society representatives had recently marched from Regal Chowk to the Karachi Press Club to demand the immediate release of the allegedly detained activists, including Sario.