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PAKISTAN: A human rights defender is missing after holding a conference on disappearances, police refuse to file case

December 17, 2010

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-180-2010

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17 December 2010
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PAKISTAN: A human rights defender is missing after holding a conference on disappearances, police refuse to file case

ISSUES: Disappearance; human rights defender; arbitrary arrest; no rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the disappearance of a human rights defender and Homeopathic doctor by profession from his private clinic by some plain clothed persons. They were accompanied by a police vehicle and the abductors were traveling in a black Toyota car. The lawyer of the disappeared person says he was abducted by officials of the intelligence agencies. The victim was abducted one day after the holding of a conference on the International day of Human Rights on December 10, which was jointly organized by the International Institute for Research and Education and the Asian Human Rights Commission in Islamabad on disappearances. The victim actively participated in the conference and assisted in making the arrangements. The conference was successful.

Another person, Qari Zaheer, is also missing. He accompanied the abductors in order to identify the victim. The police have refused to file a First Information Report (FIR) and pressured the father-in-law of the victim to mention the name of Qari as the abductor as the case belongs to intelligence agencies.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Abdul Rauoof, 36, Homeopathic doctor, was kidnapped, allegedly by persons from the intelligence agencies from his clinic on 11th December 2010 at about 7 PM,  just one day after the international human rights day when he actively participated in a round table conference on disappearances in Pakistan jointly organized by International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE Islamabad) , Asian Human Rights Commission and the Labour Education Foundation. After his abduction his father-in-law, Mr. Mohammad Gulzar, tried to file a First Information Report (FIR) at Sadiqabad police station. However, the Rawalpindi, police refused to file the FIR as, according to the station house officer (SHO), the intelligence agencies were involved.

On the next day when people from the community pressed the police to file an FIR the police accepted the hand written application of the victim’s father-in-law on the condition that the application should be written against the second person, Qari Zaheer, a disabled person, as the main accused, who has also missing since then. But until now no FIR has been filed, even against Qari Zaheer. 
 
According to eye witnesses, on 11th December, at about 7 PM, Abdul Rauoof was sitting in his clinic located at Muhammadi Plaza, Transformer Chock, Sadiqabad, Rawalpindi, when four unidentified persons wearing Shalwar Kamiz with white Chatrali caps came entered the clinic and called Dr. Rauoof to come outside, when he came outside the clinic, they picked him up and pushed him in a black Toyota Corolla car parked on the other side of the road, one police mobile van was also accompanying with the car. One Qari Zaheer who was already known to Dr Rahoof was with these persons who picked him up. Since the incident the house of Qari Zaheer has been locked from the outside and he has been missing.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write the letters to the authorities to take action against the perpetrators who abducted a homeopathic doctor from his clinic. Please urge the authorities to release him immediately along with another person and prosecute the officials of the Sadiqabad police station, Rawalpindi, who refuse to register the FIR on the pretext that the abductors were from intelligence agencies.

The AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of disappearances and the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders calling for their intervention into this case.

To suppor this appeal, please click here: send_small.gif

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SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

PAKISTAN: A person was missing after arranging a conference on Human rights international day, police refuse to file case

Name of victim:
Mr. Abdul Rauoof, 39, a homeopathic doctor,
Milad Chowk, Mohammadi colony, Sadiqabad,
Rawalpindi, Punjab province,
PAKISTAN

Names of alleged perpetrators:
Plain clothe persons allegedly from intelligence agencies

Date of incident: December 11, 2010

Place of incident: Sadiqabad, Rawalpindi, Punjab province

I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the abduction and disappearance of a Homeopathic doctor, Abdul Rauoof, from Sadiqabad, Rawalpindi, by plain clothed persons suspected to be from the intelligence agencies. Another person, Qari Zaheer, a disabled person, was also missing after he identified Dr. Abdul Rauoof to the abductors.

It is shocking for me that Dr. Rauf, who was also a human rights defender, was abducted just after one day of a roundtable conference on disappearances on the international national human rights day. The round table conference was jointly organized by International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE Islamabad), Asian Human Rights Commission and Labour Education Foundation and Dr. Abdul Rauoof has actively participated in arranging the conference.

According to the details I have received Abdul Rauoof was kidnapped allegedly by persons from the intelligence agencies from his clinic on 11th December 2010 at about 7 PM just one day after the international human rights day when he actively participated in a round table conference on disappearances in Pakistan. After his abduction his father-in-law, Mr. Mohammad Gulzar, tried to file a First Information Report (FIR) at Sadiqabad police station, Rawalpindi, police refused to file the FIR as, according to the station house officer (SHO), the intelligence agencies were involved.

The following day when community people pressed the police to file FIR then police accepted the hand written application of victim’s father-in-law on the condition that application should be written against the second person, Qari Zaheer, as the main accused who is also missing since then. But till now no FIR has been filed even against the police's claimed accuser. 
 
According to eye witnesses, on 11th December, at about 7 PM, Abdul Rauoof was sitting in his clinic located at Muhammadi Plaza, Transformer Chock, Sadiqabad, Rawalpindi, when four unidentified persons wearing Shalwar Kamiz with white Chatrali caps came in the clinic and called Dr. Rauoof to come out side, when he came outside the clinic, they picked him up and pushed him in a black Toyota Corolla car parked on the other side of the road, one police mobile van was also accompanying with the car. One Qari Zaheer who was already known to Dr Rahoof was with these persons who picked him up. Since the incident the house of Qari Zaheer has been locked from the outside and he is missing.

It is very much evident that neither the government nor the courts have any control over the intelligence agencies which allows them at any time to pick up persons and disappear them. The government’s inability to stop the disappearances have put the citizens in very insecure position, particularly the human rights defenders.

I look forward to your prompt action to provide substantial and comprehensive policy responses on the protection of religious minority groups and misuse of blasphemy law.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Asif Ali Zardari
President of Pakistan
President's Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel:  +92 51 9204801  +92 51 9204801 /  51 9214171  51 9214171
Fax: +92 51 9207458
Email: publicmail@president.gov.pk

2.Mr. Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani
Prime Minister of Pakistan
Prime Minister House
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9221596
E-mail: secretary@cabinet.gov.pk, pspm@pmsectt.gov.pk

3. Mr. A. Rehman Malik
Federal Minister for Interior
Government of Pakistan,
R block, Pak Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel:  +92 51 9212026  +92 51 9212026 ,  51 9212026  51 9212026 ,  51 9212026  51 9212026 ,  51 9212026  51 9212026
Fax: +92 51 9202624
E-mail: ministry.interior@gmail.com, interior.complaintcell@gmail.com

4. Mr. Syed Mumtaz Alam Gillani
Federal Minister for Human Rights
Ministry of Human Rights
Old US AID Building
Ata Turk Avenue
G-5, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 9204108
E-mail: sarfaraz_yousuf@yahoo.com

5. Mr. Salman Taseer
Governor of Punjab
Governor House
Mall Road
Lahore
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 99203044
E-mail: governor.sectt@punjab.gov.pk

6. Chief Secretary of Government of Punjab
Punjab Secretariat
Lahore, Punjab province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 7324489
E-mail: chiefsecy@punjab.gov.pk

7. Minister of Law
Government of Punjab
Punjab Secretariat
Ravi Road
Lahore, Punjab province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 99212004
E-mail: law@punjab.gov.pk

8. Dr. Faqir Hussain
Registrar
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9213452
E-mail: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk


Yours sincerely,

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia) 

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Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-180-2010
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.