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PAKISTAN: Twelve persons disappeared following their arrest by the police

May 28, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

29 May 2006
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UA-171-2006: PAKISTAN: Twelve persons disappeared following their arrest by the police

PAKISTAN: Forced disappearance, absence of effective investigation; impunity; collapse of rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is alarmed by the continuing reports of forced disappearances of persons in Pakistan with the latest incident involving 12 people having been disappeared in recent weeks. The persistent practice of such acts undermines the deepest values of commitment to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Intervention must be afforded to investigate and bring to an end this grave crime against humanity.

The twelve people, belonging to the Shia’te sect of Islam, were disappeared following their arrest in Karachi. The government, however, is denying having ever arrested these people. The government, it is feared, will try and implicate the Shia community in the suicide bombing that took place on 11 April 2006 at Nishter Park where 49 people were killed during a large religious gathering of Sunni sect followers. In doing this, the government has, since April 24, arrested more than 12 people from the Shia community, who have now subsequently gone missing. Many others have had to go into hiding to avoid the same fate. Critics of the government claim that it has made these arrests as it was unable to capture and arrest the real culprits of the bombing, yet wanted to be seen as acting in this case by the Sunni sect. Fears are that those arrested and currently disappeared will be pressured through means of torture to confess to their involvement in the bombing.

A constitutional petition was filed in the Sindh High Court on May 4 for the production of Mr. Liaquat Hussain Nayer (alias Nayer Zaidi), the president of Pasban-e-Aaza --an alliance of social oganisations from the Shia community-- who was arrested in the early morning of April 24 at his house by the Mehmood Abad Police. The Sindh government failed to produce him before court and denied in court that he had ever been taken into custody or arrested. Mr. Justice (Rtd.) Rasheed Rizvi is pleading the habeas corpus petition on behalf of Nayer Zaidi. In the petition it was stated that at 3am on April 24 some persons in plain clothes arrived at Mr. Nayer’s house in two vehicles with tinted windows and no registration number plates. Shortly after several dozen armed men in civil dress also arrived at the house and took Mr. Nayer into custody. This incident was witnessed by many residents in the neighbourhood. It was learned that after being taken into custody at the Mehmood Abad police station, on April 26 Mr. Nayer was then transferred to the Boat Basin police lock-up. An officer from the Boat Basin police station contacted Mr. Nayer’s family and asked that they bring him clothes and medicines, as he suffers from heart disease. Mr. Nayer has not been seen since.

The petitioner’s brother, Syed Shahid Husain Zaidi filed a constitutional petition in the Sindh High Court for the production of his brother. However, the Sindh government said in court that Mr. Nayer had not been arrested, nor was he in their custody. In response the High Court directed the federal government to respond to the whereabouts of Mr. Nayer. This is to be done on June 9.

Mr. Justice Rasheed Rizvi is also filing habeas corpus cases for other persons from Shia organisations who have gone missing in recent weeks following police arrest. One such case is that of Mr. Nisar Haider, whose mother filed a case stating that he had been arrested on May 18 at 7am from his house. Since then he has not been seen and the police have not produced him in any court. Mr. Nisar is the spokesperson of Jafria Alliance, a political organisation of the Shia community. 

The petition for Mr. Nisar came to court on May 26. The Government of Sindh and the Inspector General of Police submitted to the court that Mr. Nisar is not in police custody and has not been arrested. The double bench of the Sindh High Court directed the federal government, through the Attorney General, to submit their statement about the arrest of Mr. Nisar on June 5. The advocate, Mr. Sibtain Mehmood told the court that Mr. Nisar had been picked up by the Gulbahar police and handed over to an intelligence agency of the army.

A constitutional petition was also filed on behalf of Mr. Jamil Hussain with the High Court issuing a notice to the government regarding this.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The AHRC has been closely monitoring the situation in Pakistan and these latest disappearances are by no means isolated cases (See further UA-169-2006; UA-132-2006; UG-003-2006; UA-49-2004 and FA-05-2003). In a statement issued by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on 23 May 2006, it was stated that intelligence agencies have been playing a part in the kidnapping of nationalist leaders and students from the Sindh and Blochistan provinces with more than 57 people still reported missing.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send your appeal letters to the central and local government authorities of Pakistan and urge them to locate the whereabouts of the missing persons and push for their release immediately.

Suggested letter:

Dear _________,

PAKISTAN: Twelve persons disappeared following their arrest by the police

Names of disappeared victims:
1. Mr. Liaquat hussain nayer (alias Nayer Zaidi)
2. Mr. Ali Haider
3. Mr. Nasir Hussain
4. Mr. Abid Ali
5. Mr. Qaiser Abbas
6. Mr. Hassan Raza
7. Mr. Nisar Haider
8. Mr. Jamil Hussian
9. Mr. Askari Raza
10. Mr. Muhammad Ali
11. Mr. Ghulam Abbas
12. Name unknown

I have recently learned of the disappearances of 12 persons from the Shia community in Pakistan following their arrest by the police in recent weeks. I am aware they may have been arrested possibly in relation to a suicidal bomb blast on April 11, which the Government of Pakistan, it is feared, will try and implicate the Shia community in. Though the government has denied having arrested or taken into custody these persons, there are many witnesses who in fact saw them being taken.

Constitutional petitions have been filed in the Sindh High Court on behalf of Mr. Nayer Zaidi, Mr. Nisar Haider and Mr. Hamil Hussain. In all three cases, however, the government has denied any knowledge of their arrest. In Mr. Nayer and Mr. Nisar’s cases, the government has until June 9 and June 5 respectively to respond.

I am aware that the disappearances of these persons are by no means isolated cases in the current climate in Pakistan. Many people, particularly with political affiliations, have gone missing in the past year in Pakistan following their arrest by the army or police. The high incidence of disappearances is alarming and it would seem that there runs a wider campaign acting to remove political opposition. The inaction of the government not only constitutes tacit approval to the disappearances of these people but may also be seen as granting impunity with which police can act.

It is a matter of considerable concern to learn that law enforcement officials have been directly involved in these arrests and the systematic nature of implementation has made a mockery of the Pakistan constitution. Owing to this I strongly urge the government to exhaust all means to locate the above mentioned disappeared victims and, if no evidence is found against them, ensure their release immediately. Intervention must be afforded to investigate and bring to an end this grave crime against humanity.

I trust that you will take immediate action in these cases.

Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. General Pervez Musharraf
President
President’s Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1422, 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835
Email: CE@pak.gov.pk 

2. Mr. Muhammad Wasi Zafar
Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights
S Block,
Pakistan Secretariat,
Islamabad,
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 920 2628
E-Mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk

3. Mr. Justice Iftekhar Choudhry
Chief Justice of Pakistan
Supreme Court building
Islam abad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9213452

4. Mr. Justice Sabih Uddin
Chief Justice of Sindh High Court
High Court Building
Saddar
Karachi
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92-21-9213220
Email: info@sindhhighcourt.gov.pk

5. Mr. Ishrat-ul- Ibad Khan
Governor
Government of Sindh
Governor House Karachi
PAKISTAN
Tel: + 92 21 920 1201
Email: governor@governorsindh.gov.pk

6. Dr. Arbab Abdul Rahim
Chief Minister of Sindh
Chief Minister House
Karachi
PAKISTAN
Fax 92 21 9202000

7. Mrs. Saira Karim
Joint Secretary for Law, Justice and Human Rights
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel: + 92 51 920 2819
Fax: + 92 51 920 3119

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-171-2006
Countries :
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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.