Missing persons: Families await justice as international day of enforced disappearances passes silently

Relatives of missing persons have pinned their hopes on the PHC.

PESHAWAR:

For Mardan resident Daulat Khan, August 30 was just another day spent waiting for any news of the whereabouts of his brother, 25-year-old Hafiz Muhammad Tariq, who was picked up by police two years ago.

While the world observed the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on Saturday, meant to create awareness and press governments to end human rights abuses, Khan was not even aware that such a day exists.

Gone in a matter of minutes

December 12, 2012 was a routine day for us, Khan tells The Express Tribune, “Tariq left home for work in the morning like he did every day. But at 10am, a police team arrived at his workplace and forcefully took him away in their mobile.”

Tariq was kept at Par Hoti police station for a few hours and then shifted to an unknown location. Since then, his whereabouts remain unknown.

“If need be, we are willing to sacrifice our lives for this country, but we want justice. We want to know where Tariq has been kept for more than two years now. My mother is a heart patient and she is growing weaker every day waiting for her son’s return,” says Khan.

He added that his brother had done nothing wrong and they do not know why he is being held. “Tariq is missed at all important occasions such as Eid and family gatherings. We have pinned our hopes on the Peshawar High Court for securing the release of my missing brother,” Khan says.

Muhammad Afzal has a similar tale to tell. His nephews Abdul Basit and Faiz Muhammad are also detainees being held at separate internment centres in Fata. “My family should at least be told what crime they committed. There are laws in this country and they should be tried under those laws,” says Afzal.

According to him, Basit and Faiz Muhammad were picked up by the police accompanied by some locals in 2011, and he has not heard from them since.

International day

On December 21, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly expressed deep concern over the increase in enforced or involuntary disappearances in various regions of the world and adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

During this resolution meeting, it was decided that August 30 be declared the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The day is being marked annually since 2011.

Court progress

During the court hearings of missing persons, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs department has produced two reports in the PHC. The first report, submitted on May 29, states there are 593 people detained in five internment centres of K-P and 60 are in the jurisdiction of the political administrations.

Similarly, the second report submitted on June 26 reveals that there are 130 other suspects detained in internment centres while 10 others have been handed over to the political administration and police, which has released them.

What the law says

The Action (in aid of civil power) Regulations 2011 is now being implemented in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Section 14 of the regulation states, “The governor shall notify an Oversight Board for each internment centre comprising two civilians and two military officers to review the case of each person interned within a period of time not exceeding 120 days from the issuance of the order of internment, and to prepare a report for consideration of the governor.”

However, more such cases are surfacing regularly as more families come forward and file petitions at the PHC seeking the whereabouts of missing family members and their safe return.

Law enforcing agencies have categorised detainees who have been shifted to various internment centres in three groups; black (proven militants), grey (suspected militants) and white (held on suspicion).

There are around 43 internment centres in Fata and K-P which have been functioning under two regulations promulgated by the President of Pakistan in 2011.

CJ’s efforts

During his tenure as the chief justice, Dost Muhammad Khan forced the government to tell the court about the whereabouts of every detainee and what crime they had committed. In a speech after being elevated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Khan said 3,033 missing persons were traced and 1,270 of them had reached their home safely.

The incumbent CJ Mazhar Alam Miankhel, who took oath on April 8, has divided the hearing of the missing persons and decided that each case would be heard separately so that proper progress is made.

He has asked the government to provide separate reports to the court that include information on the deceased as well as detained persons being kept at internment centres, report of oversight boards and the number of released persons.

However, progress remains slow and families continue to maintain hope that they would one day be reunited with their loved ones.

For families like Daulat Khan’s, the international day of enforced disappearance victims will only have significance once Tariq returns home safe and sound.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2014.