Disappearance: Govt urged to recover missing journalist

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Wednesday expressed concern over police failure to recover journalist Zeenat Shahzadi, who had gone missing in Lahore when she was seeking recovery of a missing person. Addressing a press conference, HRCP vice chairperson Nazish Attaullah, HRCP Executive Council member Hina Jillani, HRCP general secretary IA Rehman and other human rights activists said the inability of a joint investigation team to recover Zeenat, who had been picked up in August last year and whose case was being heard by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance, was disappointing. According to a statement issued by the HRCP, they said that the suicide by Zeenat’s brother was a reflection of the family’s desperation over her continued disappearance. “The civil society calls upon the governments of Pakistan and the Punjab and security agencies to ensure that the circumstances of her disappearance are thoroughly investigated to identify those involved. She should be located and reunited with her family at the earliest,” the statement said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st,  2016.