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PAKISTAN: Gross negligence of the High Court of Sindh on disappeared persons who are allegedly detained in the military torture cells

December 23, 2006

URGENT APPEAL URGENT APPEAL URGENT APPEAL URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION- URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

23 December 2006
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UA-413-2006: PAKISTAN: Gross negligence of the High Court of Sindh on disappeared persons who are allegedly detained in the military torture cells

PAKISTAN: military rule, abduction by military persons, judiciary under military and no rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by gross negligence of the part of the High Court of Sindh on persons who are believed to be illegally detained in the military torture cells in Rawal Pindi. Mr. Salim Baloch, the vice president of the Jamhoori Watan Party who was released on 14 December 2006 after his 9 month illegal detention by the military, gave his testimony before the High Court and also gave names of persons who are still detained in the military torture camp in Rawal Pindi where he was detained. However, the High Court simply disposed off his habeas corpus case saying that the case is no longer valid due to his release. The Court neither ordered an inquiry about his torture and illegal detention by the army nor took subsequent action to locate the disappeared persons, who are still detained in the military torture cells in Rawal Pindi.

CASE DETAILS:

Mr. Salim Baloch, the vice president of the Jamhoori Watan Party who had been missing for 9 months since 10 March 2006, has been released from the military torture camp in Rawal Pindi on 14 December 2006. A prominent political leader Mr. Abdul Raoof Sasoli and Mr. Saeed Barohi, who were detained in the same military torture cell, were also released on 8-14 December 2006. 

After his release, Mr. Salim Baloch bravely gave his testimony about his details of his case as well as other disappeared persons in a press conference held in Karachi, Sindh province on 19 December 2006, although he had been threatened by the army officers, who said that if the three persons tell of the captivity in army camps, they would face dire consequences including the killing of their family members.

According to Mr. Salim Baloch's testimony in the press conference, he was abducted by plain clothed persons in daylight from the busiest commercial area of Lyari, Sindh province on 10 March 2006 (See further: UG-003-2006). He was then blindfolded and taken to a dark room along with his friend Mr. Saeed Barohi. There he was brutally tortured and kept being blindfolded and handcuffed for about 39 days.

After that, Mr. Salim Baloch was taken to different in different torture cells located in the cities like Bhawal Pur and Sargodha of Punjab province, where army officers interrogated him about  the resistance against military operation in southern province of Balochistan. He was then again shifted to Rawal Pindi, adjacent to Islamabad, where he was kept in one torture cell for 60 days and 178 days in another torture cell in Rawal Pindi. During this period, he was severely tortured. He was also kept blindfolded and handcuffed all the time except when he went to a toilet. As a result, he almost lost his eye sight and still suffers from severe pain in his eyes. He also showed many torture marks all over his body.  

Mr. Salim Baloch also testified that when he went on hunger strike against his illegal detention and torture in one occasion, he was shifted to a secret hospital while blindfolded and force fed by a medical officer in army uniform.

Mr. Salim Baloch also testified that during the interrogation the army officers told him that there are several army camps in almost all the cities of Pakistan, where thousands of disappeared people after their arrests are being kept and severely tortured. 

Mr. Salim Baloch also gave the media the names of some persons whom he met in the torture cells. They include Mr. Mitha Khan Marri (refer to Case 3 of UA-227-2006), Mr. Ahmed Khan Marri, Mr. Amin Marri, Mr. Haji Daud Marri, Mr. Haji Gul Ahmed Marri, Mr. Karim Marri, Mr. Mir Asghar Marri, Mr. Mir Hazar Marri, Mr. Misri Khan Marri, Mr. Murad Bux Marri and Mr. Saeed Marri, all are from Balochistan province, as well as two persons from Karachi, Sindh province namely Mr. Bilal and Mr. Hafiz Tariq of  Shia sect who were had been disappeared after a bomb blast at a religious gathering on 11 April 2006. Mr. Saleem Baloch could see and meet them when he was allowed to go to toilet.

All those who are still illegally detained in Rawal Pindi military torture cells, while habeas corpus application for many of them are pending before the higher courts in several provinces in Pakistan.

20 December 2006, Mr. Salim Baloch attended a court hearing relating to his habeas corpus case at the High Court of Sindh and testified about his story and gave names of the persons mentioned above and sought its intervention to release them. Despite his statement, the High Court simply closed the disappearance cases of the said three persons including Mr. Salim Baloch, saying that the case is not constituted because they are released now. The Court neither ordered an inquiry about his torture and illegal detention by the army nor took subsequent action to locate the disappeared persons, who are still detained in the military torture cells in Rawal Pindi.

According to legal practice in Pakistan, when the higher courts of Pakistan takes a note of serious human rights violations, they can take action (sou motto action) into those cases even in the situation that there is no application of the cases brought before the courts. However, the High Court of Sindh did not take the sou motto action on December 20 despite Mr. Salim Baloch's testimony and seriousness of the matter. This is blatant negligence of the High Court which is mandated to protect the rights of its citizens, particularly disappeared persons in this case. Sadly other higher courts of Pakistan are not free from the gross negligence into those cases committed by the police and the army personnel.

As a result, the security forces are freely arrest, detain and even extrajudicially kill the persons without fearing any punishment by law in the country. For example, in Balochistan province alone where Pakistan army conducts on-going military operations, the Federal Minister of the Interior reported on 5 December 2005 that 4,000 people have been arrested since 2001. Out of 4,000 persons, only less than 200 people have been produced to the courts. The actual number of the arrested will be much higher when the disappearance cases are included.


SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the concerned authorities listed below and demand their immediate and strong action to locate the disappeared persons who are believed to be detained in the military torture cells, according to Mr. Salim Baloch's testimony. Please demand that all the persons illegally being kept in the army torture cells are immediately released or brought before courts. Please urge them to establish an effectively mandated independent commission, which will inquire all the allegation of illegal arrests, detention, torture and forced disappearances committed by the military and the police. 

To support this appeal, please click:

Sample Letter:

Dear________,

PAKISTAN: Gross negligence of the High Court of Sindh on disappeared persons who are allegedly detained in the military torture cells

I am deeply disappointed by gross negligence of the High Court of Sindh on persons who are believed to be illegally detained in the military torture cells in Rawal Pindi.

According to the information I have received, Mr. Salim Baloch, the vice president of the Jamhoori Watan Party who had been missing for 9 months since 10 March 2006, has been released from the military torture camp in Rawal Pindi on 14 December 2006. Mr. Abdul Raoof Sasoli and Mr. Saeed Barohi, who were detained in the same military torture cell, were also released on 8-14 December 2006. 

After his release, Mr. Salim Baloch bravely gave his testimony about his details of his case as well as other disappeared persons in a press conference held in Karachi, Sindh province on 19 December 2006.  He testified that he was abducted from the busiest commercial area of Lyari, Sindh province on 10 March 2006 and detained in several military torture cells including those located in the cities like Bhawal Pur and Sargodha of Punjab province, Rawal Pindi adjacent to Islamabad and Rawal Pindi. During all this period, he was severely tortured by the army officers and also kept being blindfolded and handcuffed all the time except when he went to a toilet. As a result, he almost lost his eye sight and still suffers from huge pain in his eyes and has many torture marks all over his body.  

Mr. Salim Baloch also gave the media about the name of some persons whom he met in torture cells. They include Mr. Mitha Khan Marri, Mr. Ahmed Khan Marri, Mr. Amin Marri, Mr. Haji Daud Marri, Mr. Haji Gul Ahmed Marri, Mr. Karim Marri, Mr. Mir Asghar Marri, Mr. Mir Hazar Marri, Mr. Misri Khan Marri, Mr. Murad Bux Marri and Mr. Saeed Marri, all are from Balochistan province, as well as two persons from Karachi, Sindh province namely Mr. Bilal and Mr. Hafiz Tariq of Shia sect who were had been disappeared after blast at religious gathering on 11 April 2006. All those who are still illegally detained in Rawal Pindi military torture cells, while habeas corpus application of many of them are pending before the higher courts in several provinces in Pakistan.

Mr. Salim Baloch testified about his story and gave names of the persons mentioned above before the High Court of Sindh while attending a court hearing relating to his habeas corpus case. I was informed that however, the High Court simply closed the disappearance cases of the said three persons including Mr. Salim Baloch without any further action to inquire about the matter. The Court neither ordered an inquiry about his torture and illegal detention by the army nor took subsequent action to locate the disappeared persons, who are still detained in the military torture cells in Rawal Pindi.

This is vivid negligence of the High Court which is mandated to protect the rights of its citizens, particularly disappeared persons in this case. Sadly other higher courts of Pakistan are not free from the gross negligence into those cases committed by the police and the army personnel. As a result, the security forces are freely arrest, detain and even extrajudicially kill the persons without fearing any punishment by law in the country. For example, in Balochistan province alone, the Federal Minister of the Interior reported on 5 December 2005 that 4,000 people have been arrested since 2001. Out of 4,000 persons, only less than 200 people have been produced to the courts.

In light of above, I strongly urge you to ensure that:

1. An inquiry about illegal detention and torture of Mr. Salim Baloch, Mr. Abdul Raoof Sasoli and Mr. Saeed Barohi are conducted immediately and bring those responsible to justice as soon as possible.
2. High Court of Sindg takes sou motto action and order a full inquiry about the illegal detention of the persons who are believed to be kept in the military torture camp in Rawal Pindi based on Mr. Salim Baloch's testimony. Those persons should be released immediately. 
3. An effectively mandated independent commission is established and it inquires all the allegation of illegal arrests, detention, torture and forced disappearances committed by the military and the police.
4. The judiciary of Pakistan to take firm action against the alleged disappearance cases committed by the army and the police and particularly takes strong action into habeas corpus applications brought before them.
5. The Government of Pakistan immediately stop illegal arrest and detention of citizens and respect their right to life and security that is guaranteed in the Constitution of Pakistan and international laws. 

I look for your immediate intervention into this matter.

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

1. General Pervez Musharraf
President
President’s Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1422, 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835
Email: (please see - http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx)

2. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Choudhry
Chief Justice of Pakistan
Supreme Court of Pakistan,
Constitution Avenue,
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel: + 92 51 9213767
Fax: + 92 51 921 3452
E-mail: cjpakistan@yahoo.com 

3. Dr. Faqir Hussan
Registrar
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue, Islamabad
Tel: +92 51 921 3770
E-mail: registrar@supremecourt.gov.pk 

4. Mr. Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao
Federal Minister of Interior
Room#404, 4th Floor, R Block,
Pak Secretariat
Islamabad (Pakistan)
Tel: +92 51 9212026
Fax: +92 51 9202624
E-mail: minister@interior.gov.pk

5. 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

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

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

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

9. Dr. Arbab Abdul Rahim
Chief Minister of Sindh
Chief Minister House
Karachi
PAKISTAN
E-mail: cm.sindh@sindg.gov.pk

10. Ms. Louise Arbour
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 917 9012/0213
 
11. Ms Leila Zerrougui
Chairperson
Working Group on arbitrary detention
Attn: Mr Miguel de la Lama
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTENTION: WORKING GROUP ARBITRARY DETENTION)

PLEASE ALSO SEND A COPY OF YOUR LETTER TO:

1. Mr. Thomas Hammarberg
Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
Tel: +33 3 88 41 34 21
Fax: +33 3 90 21 50 53
E-mail: commissioner@coe.int 

2. Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett MP
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH
Tel: +44 0207 008 1500
Fax: +44 0207 839 2417
Email: private.office@fco.gov.uk 


Thank you.

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

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-413-2006
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.