Asad Usman, a nine-year-old boy, was picked up by the Balochistan Frontier Constabulary paramilitary force, who is on the record as saying that he would be released after his wanted elder brother surrendered. He was detained in Tump or Mand, near Turbat in Balochistan province. The Supreme Court ordered his release on April 27, 2007.
Masood Janjua, a 45-year-old businessman, was apprehended by Pakistani security forces while on a bus in July 2005 with his friend Faisal Faraz, a 25-year-old engineer from Lahore. The government has not acknowledged that it is holding Janjua, despite testimony from several former detainees. His wife, Amna Janjua, is now heading the Defence of Human Rights organization.
Dr Imran Munir, a Malaysian citizen of Pakistani origin, was arrested in July 2006 and his whereabouts remained unknown until the Supreme Court was informed in its hearing on May 4, 2007, that he was facing a court martial on charges of "spying against Pakistan". A month later, the court was informed that Dr Munir had been sentenced to eight years in prison.
The court ordered his appearance in court and, on finding that his health was deteriorating, ordered his admission into hospital. Dr Munir was set to record his statement regarding his enforced disappearance when the hearing was disrupted with the imposition of the state of emergency in November 2007. Dr Munir's conviction was set aside by military authorities after the Supreme Court questioned the conviction. Dr Munir is still confined to a hospital in Islamabad.
Shamsun Nissa, 60, remembers her only son Attiqur Rehman, who she says was picked up by intelligence agencies from his hometown Abbottabad on the day he was to get married in June 2004.
Saud Memon, a Karachi businessman, disappeared in March 2003. He was wanted in connection with the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl as he allegedly owned the shed where Pearl's body was found. Four years later, Memon was dropped off, emaciated and near death, at the doorstep of his family home in Karachi. He died two weeks later. While hospital authorities said he died of tuberculosis and meningitis, his family alleged he had been tortured by the authorities. He was never officially arrested or detained and lost contact with the family. Investigators at Human Rights Watch believe he was held in CIA custody before being turned over to Pakistani intelligence agents.
Abid Zaidi, 26, was released from illegal captivity by the law enforcement agencies. Narrating his ordeal of prolonged torture and ill-treatment, he said that he was kidnapped on false charges of being involved in a bomb blast in Karachi. "I was handcuffed and blindfolded for over three months during which they constantly accused me of the crime I was not involved in and forced me to admit that I was a part of the conspiracy," he said. Abid, who is a PhD from the KarachiUniversity, was "picked up' on April 26, 2006, and was released three months later.
International convention
on the disappeared
August 30th,
2010, will be the 27th International Day of the Disappeared. Every year,
Amnesty International, along with other NGOs, families associations and
grassroots groups, remembers the disappeared and demands justice for victims of
enforced disappearances through activities and events.
To
combat enforced disappearance, in 2006 the UN General Assembly adopted the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance. Once entered into force, the Convention will be an effective way
to help prevent enforced disappearances, establish the truth about this crime,
punish the perpetrators and provide reparations to the victims and their
families
The Convention's definition of enforced disappearance is:
"The arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of
liberty by agents of the State or by persons, or groups of persons acting with
the authorization, 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."
The Convention addresses the violations linked to an enforced disappearance and
the problems facing those who try to investigate and hold perpetrators to
account. It also recognizes the families' rights to know the truth about the
fate of a disappeared person and to obtain reparations.
The Convention obliges states to protect witnesses and to hold any person
involved in an enforced disappearance criminally responsible. It also requires
states to institute stringent safeguards for people deprived of their liberty;
to search for the disappeared person and, if they have died, to locate, respect
and return the remains.
The Convention also requires states to prosecute alleged perpetrators present
in their territory, regardless of where they may have committed the crime, unless
they decide to extradite them to another state or surrender them to an
international criminal court.
The Convention is now only a few ratifications away from entering into force.
Amnesty International calls on all governments that have not done so already to
ratify the Convention as soon as possible. Ratification will send a powerful signal
that enforced disappearances will not be tolerated and will give those
searching for their loved ones a much needed new tool.
Intriguingly, Pakistan is not a signatory to the UN Convention on disappeared persons. Currently Amnesty International is focusing its ratification campaign on the following ten countries: Burundi, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Portugal, Serbia, and Timor Leste.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
4
3
1
