HRCP calls for criminalising ‘enforced disappearances’

Participants hold a protest demonstration at Liberty Roundabout

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Thursday reiterated during a seminar the need for the government to criminalise enforced disappearances to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances held at HRCP office, Garden Town.



A large number of rights activists and students participated in the event. After the seminar, a protest was also organised at Liberty Roundabout. The protesters shouted slogans against the enforced disappearances.

“Even as we express solidarity with forcibly disappeared people and with their friends and families, it is worth reminding ourselves exactly why the phrase ‘missing person’ is a gross understatement in terms of human rights,” HRCP Chairperson Dr Mehdi Hassan said while expressing solidarity with the families of the missing persons.

“We have no reliable estimates of the number of people in this position – given the enormous discrepancy between official estimates and reports on the ground – is a chilling reminder of why the state cannot afford to stall this issue,” he further said.

The HRCP chairman demanded of the government to take immediate steps to criminalise enforced disappearances under the Pakistan Penal Code and replace the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances with a judicial tribunal answerable to the Supreme Court.

“The findings of the 2010 Judicial Commission on Enforced Disappearances must be made public and implemented. It is also high time that Pakistan ratify the International Convention to Protect All Persons against Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance and engage productively with the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.”

Farooq Tariq, a leader of Awami Workers Party, said there was no serious crime committed by a state than abduction of a person.



Suleman Wazir, a student activist said only the people whose loved ones had been abducted could feel the pain and suffering. The issue of missing persons persisted everywhere. However, in FATA, the scale of abduction was matchless throughout the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2018.