‘Enforced disappearances are a threat to democratic order’

Even though a democratic order exists in the country and the courts, parliament and other state institutions are functional, the draconian and extrajudicial practice of enforced disappearances still prevails in Pakistan.

This was stated by Nasir Mansoor, deputy secretary general of the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), at a protest rally held in the city on Sunday to demand an immediate end to enforced disappearances and release of all those who have been reported missing from across the country.

The rally was organised on the call of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) to mark the International Day of Human Rights. The demonstrators marched from the Sindh Assembly to the Karachi Press Club.

It should be noted that over the past few months, several bloggers, rights activists and nationalist party workers have gone missing in the country – the most recent being Lahore-based activist Raza Khan, whose whereabouts have been unknown since last week.

Terming enforced disappearances a threat to the democratic order, Mansoor said, “Those who talk about upholding the Constitution should be the ones raising their voice on the matter. If they choose to remain silent today, it will be them who will be under fire tomorrow.”

Speaking to The News, HRCP Vice President Asad Iqbal Butt expressed concern over the alarming rise in enforced disappearances in the country.

He said that the purpose of organising the demonstration was to highlight the pressing issue of missing persons and the difficulties it has created for not just the victims and their families, but also for those raising their voices against it.

Butt also called for effective implementation of the judicial process, stating that all those picked up should be produced before a judicial magistrate within 24 hours. “It is the court which will decide who has committed a crime and who hasn’t.”

Speaking of the eerie silence maintained by those who came back after months or days of disappearance, Butt said that even the courts are under so much pressure that they don’t intervene. “They [courts] don’t summon those released to ask them about what happened to them or who abducted them,” he said.

The protesters also expressed solidarity with activists of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (Arisar) who had organised a day-long camp outside the press club to demand the release of missing persons from Sindh.

Sorath Lohar, district convener for the Voice of Missing Persons of Sindh, told The News that her father has been missing since April and aside from him, the whereabouts of 21 other people from their party are unknown. “Our only demand is to make their arrests public, bring them [the detained individuals] to courts and charge them with whatever crimes the abductors think they have committed. But follow the law,” she said.

Expressing dismay over the situation, another activist, Naghma Iqtidar, said people don’t know who to look to anymore to get their issues redressed.

“If the Senate feels so helpless in solving the issue of missing persons that it suggests dissolving the committee probing the matter, then where do we stand?” she questioned.