HRCP asks govt to end ‘enforced’ disappearances

Marking International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances (August 30) nationwide, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Sindh chapter organised on Thursday a protest camp outside Karachi Press Club, demanding of the newly elected federal government to take robust measures to end the illegal practice of enforced disappearances and bring the perpetrators to justice.

A large number of civil society and rights activists, relatives of missing persons and political activists attended the protest camp. They were carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans for the recovery of the disappeared persons. They also chanted slogans against the authorities for not taking measures for the recovery of these citizens.

Asad Iqbal Butt, the HRCP’s vice-chairperson, who led the protest, said that International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances held particular relevance to Pakistan since the missing persons’ issue was well-entrenched in the country.

“A large number of political workers, writers, rights activists and students have gone missing across the Sindh province but no one from the provincial government or the police department has taken responsibility of illegal detentions or has a clue of their whereabouts,” Butt said. “No one has the right to snatch a person’s life, liberty and security. If someone is involved in a crime, he or she should be presented in the court which will decide the case.”

Butt said that enforced disappearances were giving rise to a sense of insecurity among people. The HRCP’s senior official also urged the authorities, especially the prime minister and the Sindh chief minister, to make sure that the citizens’ rights were not violated, and also to provide a effective mechanism to resolve the issue.

Sorath Lohar, a leader of Voice of Missing Person of Sindh, Rashid Rizvi, a leader of a Shia missing persons committee, prominent activist Elahi Bakhsh Baloch, Abdul Wahab Baloch and Abubakkar Yousafzai were among prominent rights activists who attended the protest camp.