Muhammad Siddeeq argues that the Pakistani authorities have no serious intention of dealing with one of the country’s dirtiest secrets – the plight of thousands of people abducted off the streets and simply “disappeared.”
As thousands of Pakistanis languish in secret underground jails in the country, the Pakistani government has appointed an 80 year old ailing retired judge to one of the most important positions in the country – Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CIED). The judge is rumoured to be under treatment in a hospital in Lahore.
Human rights and civil society activists in Pakistan have condemned the appointment of an individual who is clearly unfit to fulfill the duties of such an important role. “This is a joke. How can you appoint such a senior citizen with failing health to such an important role? Who is going to listen to him?” said Amina Masood Janjua, the chairperson of the rights group Defence of Human Rights Pakistan (DHRPK).
When it comes to the pain and suffering of the Pakistanis with missing loved ones, Amina Masood knows more than most. Her husband Masood Ahmed Janjua, a businessman from Rawalpindi, has been missing for nineteen years after being forcibly abducted whilst travelling on public transport in the city.
“This is the worst thing to happen to anyone,” said an emotional Amina. “If someone dies, you cry and people console you and after some time, you come to terms with it, but if someone just disappears, it is the bitterest of agonies.”
Forcibly Abducted
Thousands of Pakistanis have been forcibly abducted over the last several decades and the number has been increasing every year. It is reported that the abductions are invariably carried out by smart young men in plain clothes riding in double-cabin 4×4 pick up vehicles.
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Islamic scholars, academics, businessmen, students, political activists, men and women; thousands remain missing in unexplained circumstances. As well as thousands of ordinary grassroots workers and activists of religious groups and political parties, the list of missing people in Pakistan includes many high-profile individuals like Engineer Naveed Butt, the leader of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Pakistan.
The families of the missing say there is only one institution in the country capable of such ruthless efficiency in disappearing political dissidents (the internal security agency ISI), but face threats and intimidation on pointing the finger at the perpetrators of the crime.
The authorities in Pakistan – the civilian government and the intelligence agencies – deny any knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing citizens. The judiciary of Pakistan is more sympathetic to the plight of the families of the missing but feel powerless to provide any relief to the victims and their families. “Forced disappearance is a crime” said Jamal Khan Mandokhail, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan during a recent hearing. “If someone is guilty of something, let them be tried. If not, they should be released.”
The families of victims have been lobbying the Pakistani government and the military leadership for years to pay attention to this festering issue and to help them re-unite with their loved ones. However, whilst giving the impression of being sympathetic, the response of the government and the military leadership has been to do nothing to recover the missing people.
Instead, the government keeps buying time by creating ineffective and useless bodies to “look into” the problem. Created 14 years ago, the “Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances” (CIED) is one such example.
“There are serious flaws with this Commission. We have ‘production orders’ from the courts for the missing people, but it does nothing to enforce them,” said Amina Masood. “Not only that, in cases where the missing die in captivity, and in cases where the bodies of those who have been tortured and killed are returned to the families, the Commission counts that as a ‘success’.”
“How can we trust that the appointment of a new chairman will make this Commission’s work any more successful?” asked Amina Masood. “This Commission needs to be disbanded. This is because the Commission’s own mandate says that it will take action against those who are involved in the forced abductions of citizens, but in fourteen years, it has taken action against no person or entity.”
“We demand that the government establish an empowered Commission of Truth and Reconciliation to identify those involved in the abductions and to help recover the missing people” said Amina Masood.
In September 2024, the Islamabad High Court ordered that a committee be formed comprising of officials of the Inter-Services intelligence (ISI), the Military Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) so that it can give an in-camera briefing to the Islamabad High Court on the on-going and troubling issue of forced abductions of Pakistani citizens.
Until now, there have been no reported developments in response to the request of Islamabad High Court.
