Pakistan’s enforced disappearance bill against international law: Amnesty Int’l

Amnesty International has expressed concerns over Pakistan’s proposed amendments to enforced disappearance bill, saying it will violate international human rights law and also allow “state actors to behave with impunity”.

The PTI-led government in June this year introduced a bill in the National Assembly, criminalising enforced disappearance with a 10-year imprisonment for anyone found guilty of it.

Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmed proposed to amend the Pakistan Penal Code of 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1898 with new sections pertaining to enforced disappearance.

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari introduced the bill – the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021. The bill states that a new section 52-B (enforced disappearance) should be inserted into PPC after section 52-A.

The proposed section states that the “term enforced disappearance relates to the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by an agent of the state or by person or group of persons acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the state, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law”.

Also read: Bill criminalising enforced disappearance introduced in NA

“More than three months after first receiving the draft bill, which has already been pending for more than two and a half years, the Pakistani parliament’s Senate Standing Committee on Interior returned feedback on the draft amendment bill over the weekend that would enable enforced disappearance to continue lawfully under certain circumstances defined by the authorities. The amendments would also allow criminal charges to be brought against anyone deemed to have made ‘false allegations’, with a penalty of up to five years imprisonment alongside a fine of Rs100,000,” the human rights organisation said in a statement on Thursday.

“These amendments make a mockery of the idea that this bill would outlaw enforced disappearances. They provide the authorities with various loopholes that would allow the practice to continue at their discretion, while the power to bring charges against those accused of making 'false' claims would also greatly discourage people from reporting cases,” said Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for South Asia.

The standing committee has also not taken any of the feedback from civil society, victim groups and human rights organisations on board. The amendment bill still does not clearly define its mandate and does not specify under which legal structure victim families will be able to file a complaint, how compensation will be determined, and what retrospective effect the amendment will have, if any, the statement added.

“Enforced disappearances have been a stain on Pakistan’s human rights record for too long. We urge parliament to reject these amendments and end this shameful practice once and for all, by passing a bill that meets international human rights law and standards,” Dissanayake added.

Amnesty International in a statement said it is particularly concerned that the amendments would only outlaw enforced disappearance which has been carried out "illegally and without lawful authority" – a phrase added throughout the amended bill.