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PAKISTAN: Police and government henchmen abducted and confined a mother and a girl for 12 days

September 7, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

7 September 2006
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UA-297-2006: PAKISTAN: Police and government henchmen abducted and confined a mother and a girl for 12 days

PAKISTAN: Use of power; no respect for lower caste women; abduction of women; punishment for educating the low caste girl; no rule of law; impunity to perpetrators
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the alleged kidnapping of a girl named Ghazala Shaheen and her mother who were abducted from their house at 1:00 am by the henchmen of Mr. Raza Hayat Heraj who is the Minister of State on Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights and Punjab province police of the Khanewal district on 25 August 2006. The victims were only freed after local villagers took action and stormed a house, while detaining the perpetrators on September 5.

The father of the girl was also so severely beaten by the minister's men that he could not move for two days. The girl, who has completed her Masters in Education from Baha uddin Zakarya University, Multan in Punjab province, and her mother are feared by the father that they will soon be killed once they have reported the case to the police. Local human rights organisations also fear that the kidnapped women have been subjected to torture in their confinement since the perpetrators are previously known to have committee rape and torture to other women in the past.

The police first refused to register the case after the arrest of one of the accused by local people who secured the release of the daughter and mother from the abductors.  The police are not pursuing this case further because the minister himself and his men are involved. The police officials of the Saddar police station, Kabirwala raided the house where the women were kept and announced that there is no person inside, but the people including activists of human rights groups chased a car that the accused persons were escaping with the victims and caught three persons and handed them over to the police. The police then arrested one person and released the two other accused. Among them one was the guard of the said minister. The deputy Inspector of Police Multan range and Deputy Superintendent of Police Kabirwala Circle have also been threatening the victims, the girl and her mother, as well as the two relatives of the victims who helped catch the accused persons for dire consequences including threats to their life.

Meanwhile, the victims and their family members have been threatened by high police officials. Ms. Mumtaz Mai has even been threatened by the highest police officials of the Multan range that she is no longer talking to anybody and vomiting all the time. She has been admitted to a local hospital and the doctors are saying that she is in severe shock and is hiding something that she is too afraid to tell anybody.

Details of the case:

Miss Ghazala Shaheen who is a part of the lower caste "Batti", graduated first class with a Master of Arts (MA) in Education. On 25 August 2006, she went to her house at the village Chak Sher Khan, Kabirwala Town some 50 kilometres away from her Zakarya University to inform her parents about her success. The news about her completion of the MA spread in the village like fire. This news provoked the people of the minister of state for law and human rights and also the tribal elders of upper caste namely "Mirali".

On the same night when people of the Chak Sher Khan returned to their homes after extending greetings to the victim's family, the henchmen of the minister, some policemen in uniform, with five to six men of the federal minister reached the house at 1:00 am and forcibly entered her house, severely beating her father Mr. Muhammad Hussain, a retired military man with, boots, iron sticks and with the butts of guns. They then allegedly kidnapped Miss Ghazala and her mother Mrs. Mumtaz Mai. They dragged the victims for about one kilometre from their house, while the entire time beating them. Then the victims were forced to sit on two motor cycles, one policeman was driving and the girl was sitting in between him and another officer behind her, with the same happening to her mother. All the while, they were teased by the police.

On August 27 a relative of the victims, Mr. Abdul Rasheed Batti who is a teacher at a local school, contacted the local office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan after getting no response from the local police on what had happened.  Also on August 28, he contacted the representatives of different organisations including PRIME. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan went to the offices of Station House Officer (SHO) Mr. Mehboob Rabbani, Superintend of Police (SP) Mr. Shahid Anees and Deputy Inspector General of police (DIG) Multan to request that the case be registered and demand that girl and her mother be released from the henchmen of the federal minister of state. 

However, the police officer refused to file a case against the perpetrators as they belong to a higher caste and also the men of a State Minister of Law Mr Raza Hayat Heraj. The Deputy Inspector General of Multan told the human rights activists it was a case of old enmity and no abduction took place, rather the girl and her mother ran away from her house on their own wish.

The Deputy Inspector of Police then told the activists that this kind of thing happens generally when there is a dispute between lower and upper castes. Therefore he refused to register a case. On August 28, a case involving the disappearance of the victims was registered in the Saddar police station of Kabirwala through the intervention of another minister named Mr. Hasnain Jani of the provincial government of Punjab.

On 5 September 2006, people of the Kabirwala town informed the police about a house where the alleged perpetrators were present with the abducted girl and her mother.  The deputy superintendent of police circle Kabir wala, Mr. Daud Hasnain came himself and raided the house and arranged for the alleged perpetrators to escape with the girl and her mother. But the local people caught one car which was carrying the girl and her mother and got control over three of the accused persons, one was identified as Nazar Mohammad, while the other two are guards of Mr. Raza Hayat Heraj who is the federal Minister for State on Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights.

When they all were brought to the police station at Kabirwala, the police did not allow the girl and her mother to meet with relatives and local human rights activists. At 5:00 pm, DSP Mr. Daud Hasnain arranged a press conference and said that this is the case of old enmity and nothing had happened to girl and her mother. But the mother was not talking and all the time she was weeping but the girl said that they were kidnapped and kept in a small room where they were only given water and food once a day.

Later on next day she told journalists and human right activists, including the Asian Human Rights Commission that the captors were all the time beating them and using filthy language. She said that if people had not secured her release she and mother would have been raped and then killed by the police and the abductors. She said that when the abductors learnt that a case is also filed by the intervention of another provincial minister of punjab Mr. Hasnain Jani, they then panicked and started taking harsh steps against them.

Police have not arrested the other persons involved particularly Mr. Mohammad Nawaz who is said to be the right hand man of the minister. Police also released a guard and another person who were caught by the local people during the raid on the house where girl and her mother were kept and tortured. Police are also threatening Mr. Abdul Rasheed Batti who is the teacher and Mr. Allah Ditta who belong to the same lower caste Batti. They are also the ones who mobilised local people to act out against the injustice.


SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the following addresses and appeal for them to register a case of abduction, keeping of women in an unlawful confinement for eleven days, gang rape, beating, taking the law into their own hands and misuse of power, and arrest them so that the law should follow its due course.

To support this appeal please click here:

Suggested letter:

Dear ________,

PAKISTAN: Police and government henchmen abducted and confined a mother and a girl for 12 days

Name of the victims:
Miss Ghazala Shaheen d/o Mr. Muhammad Hussain Batti
Ms. Mumtaz Mai w/o Mr. Muhammad Hussain Batti
Mr. Muhammad Hussain Battiresidents of Moazo Chah Hashim Wala,Chak
Sher Khan, Kabirwala town, district Khanewal.
Name of the alleged perpetrators:
Muhammad Nawaz
Nazar Mummad, Abbas, Azhar, Wajid and Ghazanfer who are all the
alleged abductors and rapist. Henchmen of Minister of state for law
and human rights.
Residents of People Mirani, Sarai Sadho police station, tehseel Kabirwala.
Mr. Muhammad Ali Deputy Inspector general Multan Range
Mr. Mehboob Rabbani Station Head Officer, Saddar police station Kabirwala town
Mr. Shahid Anees Suprintend of Police District Khanewal
Mr. Daud Hasnain Deputy Suprintend of Police circle Kabirwala.
Date of incident. 26 August 2006
Place of incident: Chak Sher Khan, Kabirwala town, District Khanewal.

I am shocked to hear that a girl of the lower caste "Batti", miss Ghazala Shaheen who completed her MA in Education from Baha uddin Zakarya University, Multan in Punjab province, was abducted with her mother on 25 August 2006 from her house at 1:00 am by the henchmen of Mr. Raza Hayat Heraj who is the minister of state on law, parliamentary affairs and human rights and Punjab provincial police of the Khanewal district. I am also very concerned that the police are not protecting the citizens and particularly the marginalized persons and helped freeing the abducted girl and her mother.

Miss Ghazala Shaheen who belongs to the lower caste "Batti", graduated first class with a Master of Arts (MA) in Education. On 25 August 2006, she went to her house at the village Chak Sher Khan, Kabirwala Town some 50 kilometres away from her Zakarya University to inform her parents about her success. The news about her completion of the MA spread in the village like fire. This news provoked the people of the minister of state for law and human rights and also the tribal elders of upper caste namely "Mirali".

On the same night when people of the Chak Sher Khan returned to their homes after extending greetings to the victim's family, the henchmen of the minister, some policemen in uniform, with five to six men of the Federal Minister reached the house at 1:00 am and forcibly entered her house, severely beating her father Mr. Muhammad Hussain, a retired military man with, boots, iron sticks and with the butts of guns.  They then allegedly kidnapped Miss Ghazala and her mother Mrs. Mumtaz Mai. They dragged the victims for about one kilometre from their house, while the entire time beating them. Then the victims were forced to sit on two motor cycles, one policeman was driving and the girl was sitting in between him and another officer behind her, with the same happening to her mother. All the while, they were teased by the police.

On August 27 a relative of the victims, Mr. Abdul Rasheed Batti who is a teacher at a local school, contacted the local office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan after getting no response from the local police on what had happened.  Also on August 28, he contacted the representatives of different organisations including PRIME. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan went to the offices of Station House Officer (SHO) Mr. Mehboob Rabbani, Superintend of Police (SP) Mr. Shahid Anees and Deputy Inspector General of police (DIG) Multan to request that the case be registered and demand that girl and her mother be released from the henchmen of federal minister of state. 

However, the police officer refused to file a case against the perpetrators as they belong to a higher caste and also the men of a State Minister of law Mr Raza Hayat Heraj. The Deputy Inspector General of Multan told the human rights activists it was a case of old enmity and no abduction took place, rather the girl and her mother ran away from her house on their own wish. The Deputy Inspector of Police then told the activists that this kind of thing happens generally when there is a dispute between lower and upper castes. Therefore he refused to register a case. On August 28, a case involving the disappearance of the victims was registered in the Saddar police station of Kabirwala through the intervention of another minister named Mr. Hasnain Jani of the provincial government of Punjab.

I have also learned that on 5 September 2006, people of the Kabirwala town informed the police about a house where the alleged perpetrators were present with the abducted girl and her mother.  The deputy superintendent of police circle Kabir wala, Mr. Daud Hasnain came himself and raided the house and arranged for the alleged perpetrators to escape with the girl and her mother. But the local people caught one car which was carrying the girl and her mother and got control over three of the accused persons, one was identified as Nazar Mohammad, while the other two are guards of Mr. Raza Hayat Heraj who is the federal minister for State on Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights.

When they all were brought to the police station at Kabirwala, the police did not allow the girl and her mother to meet with relatives and local human rights activists. At 5:00 pm, DSP Mr. Daud Hasnain arranged a press conference and said that this is the case of old enmity and nothing had happened to girl and her mother. But the mother was not talking and all the time she was weeping but the girl said that they were kidnapped and kept in a small room where they were only given water and food once a day.

Later on next day she told journalists and human right activists, including the Asian Human Rights Commission that the captors were all the time beating them and using filthy language. She said that if people had not secured her release she and mother would have been raped and then killed by the police and the abductors. She said that when the abductors learnt that a case is also filed by the intervention of another provincial minister of punjab Mr. Hasnain Jani, they then panicked and started taking harsh steps against them.

Police have not arrested the other persons involved particularly Mr. Mohammad Nawaz who is said to be the right hand man of the minister. Police also released a guard and another person who were caught by the local people during the raid on the house where girl and her mother were kept and tortured. Police are also threatening Mr. Abdul Rasheed Batti who is the teacher and Mr. Allah Ditta who belong to the same lower caste Batti. They are also the ones who mobilised local people to act out against the injustice.

It is also disturbing to learn that the victims and their family members have been threatened by high police officials. The MS Mumtaz Mai has even been threatened by the highest police officials of the Multan range that she is no longer talking to anybody and vomiting all the time. She has been admitted to a local hospital and the doctors are saying that she is in severe shock and is hiding something that she is too afraid to tell anybody.

I request that you charge and arrest the perpetrators in this case involving the kidnapping of a student and her mother of the lower caste, who kept the victims in illegal and forced confinement for more than 12 days and beating other victims, as well as her father using the police force. It is completely unacceptable that these crimes were committed against women and the most marginalized persons in society only for the sake of imparting education.

An inquiry should also be conducted by the government and until the investigation is concluded, all the police officers who have been named as perpetrators should be relieved of their duties. An inquiry should also be held against the federal Minister of State for Law, Parliamentary affairs and Human Rights for misusing his power against women and using the method of kidnapping women by his henchmen to punish marginalized people for getting education.

I also appeal to the higher authorities that full protection is provided to the family and their relatives. This must be allocated to the victims and those involved otherwise police officials and the minister of state may take revenge on the family.


Yours sincerely,
----------------

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

1. Lt. General Khalid Maqbool
Governor of Punjab
Governor House
Mall Road, Lahore
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 9200023
E-mail: governor.sectt@punjab.gov.pk

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

3. Mr. Khusro Pervez Khan
Home secretary
Punjab Secretariat
Lahore
PAKISTAN
E-mail: home@punjab.gov.pk

4. Choudhry Pervez Ihhahi
Chief Minister Punjab
Chief Minister House
Lahore
PAKISTAN

5. Secretary of Law and Parliamentary Government of Punjab
Punjab Secretariat
Ravi Road
Lahore
PAKISTAN
E-mail: law@punjab.gov.pk

6. General Pervez Musharraf
President
President's Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1422, 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835
E-mail: (please see - <http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx>http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx)

7. 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

8. Prof. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Attn: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXECUTIONS)


Thank you.

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

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-297-2006
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.