PESHAWAR: Participants of a consultation here on Wednesday urged the government to ensure the early passage of a proposed law to criminalise enforced disappearances for the punishment of culprits.

They also appealed to the superior judiciary and Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances to play a proactive role in dealing with the cases of ‘missing persons’ to the ease the misery of their family members.

The event was organised by the Defence of Human Rights (DHR), an organisation dealing with the issue for over 15 years, on serious human rights violations in the province, including enforced disappearances.

The meeting was attended by family members of missing persons from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, politicians, lawyers and human rights defenders.

Participants of consultation urge courts to play role on matter

Relatives of some missing persons highlighted their ordeal and said whereabouts of the victims of enforced disappearances hadn’t been known for years.

The participants demanded that enforced disappearances be made a crime and those behind them should be held accountable.

They declared the performance of the CIED disappointing and said the commission had failed to implement own orders to stop enforced disappearances.

The participants said the courts were supposed to protect the people’s basic rights but hadn’t played that role.

DHR chairperson Amina Masood Janjua said KP was badly affected by military operations, civilian casualties, enforced disappearances, internment centres, and extrajudicial killings.

She called for joint efforts by stakeholders, including civil society organisations, lawyers and media persons, to address the issue.

Former MNA and chairman of the World Prisoners Relief Commission Javed Ibrahim Paracha explained his struggle for the release of a large number of detainees, including foreigners, who had been taken into custody after the 9/11 terrorist attack.

He regretted that currently, the response of judiciary to such cases was not encouraging.

Advocate Sajeed Khan Afridi explained the legal status of internment centres set up under the Action (in aid of civil power) Regulation, 2011, in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas.

He said after the merger of tribal areas with KP, a Peshawar High Court bench headed by the then chief justice, Waqar Ahmad Seth, had declared the functioning of internment centres unconstitutional and ordered the provincial police chief to take their control.

Mr Afridi, however, said the Supreme Court suspended that high court order over appeals filed by the federal and KP governments but decision on those appeals had yet to be decided.

Advocate Ali Azeem Afridi, who is known for public interest litigations, stressed the need of self-accountability in the institutions specially judiciary.

He said the records of court proceedings should be available to the people for their knowledge.

Former director of the University of Peshawar’s Areas Study Centre Prof Sarfaraz Khan, head of Qabail Tahafuz Tehreek Abu Sufian Mehsud, human rights activists Fida Jan, Asif Paracha, Aftab Ali Shah, Palwasha Khan, Tariq Afghan, and several others addressed the event.

Son of a missing person from Mohmand district Zahid Khan said family members of missing persons had staged a sit-in near the provincial assembly’s building for 40 days but regrettably, none of the ministers or ruling party MPAs visited them.

He said the sit-in was wound up after a large contingent of police threatened to disperse protesters by force.

Other speakers said the oppressive laws like the Action (in aid of civil power) Regulation were applied to ex-Fata and ex-Pata and after the merger of those areas with KP, they’re applied to rest of the province as an ordinance.

They said the ordinance had led to serious human rights violations and miscarriages of justice.

The participants also discussed a recently tabled bill for the enforced disappearances, internment centres, de-radicalisation centres and CIED.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2021