Missing Persons Pakistan

Amnesty: Reveal details of missing persons in Pakistan

2009-12-21T22:38:00.000-08:00

M. Ziauddin

23 July 2008

Amnesty International has demanded that Pakistan government provide information about hundreds of missing persons. The rights body has presented evidences in the form of official court records and affidavits of victims and witnesses to prove the point that these enforced disappearances were cases of abductions by security forces.

London: The Pakistani government should immediately reveal details of where hundreds of missing people were being held, investigate all cases and hold to account those responsible, including the country’s security and intelligence agencies, said Amnesty International in a report released on July 22.

Amnesty International also demanded that Pakistan’s new government reinstate deposed judges who had previously been investigating cases involving the missing people.

In its new report: Denying the undeniable, enforced disappearances in Pakistan, Amnesty International uses official court records and affidavits of victims and witnesses of enforced disappearances to confront the Pakistan authorities with evidence of how government officials, especially from the security and intelligence agencies, obstructed attempts to trace those who had disappeared.

Hundreds of people who have “disappeared” were detained under counter terrorism measures justified by Pakistan as part of the US-led ‘war on terror’.

The report also calls on other governments — most notably the US — to ensure that they are not complicit in, contributing to, or tolerating the practice of enforced disappearances.

Many people who have been secretly held in detention centres in Pakistan say they were interrogated by Pakistani intelligence agencies but also by foreign intelligence agents.

Shrouded in secrecy

Enforced disappearances, by their nature, are shrouded in secrecy, making it impossible to provide accurate numbers of victims.

Pakistani organisations working on behalf of families of those who have disappeared claim there are at least 563 cases.

From affidavits and testimonies the report reveals a pattern of security or other forces arbitrarily detaining people (some of them children, in one case a nine-year-old boy), blindfolding them, and moving them around various detention centres so they become difficult to trace.

“We don’t know if those subjected to enforced disappearances are guilty or innocent, but it is their fundamental right to be charged and tried properly in a court of law,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific director.

“By holding people in secret detention the government of Pakistan has not only violated their rights, but also failed in its duty to charge and try those suspected of involvement in attacks on civilians.”

Repeated denials

The report is the latest in an ongoing campaign by Amnesty International to end the practice of enforced disappearances worldwide.

In 2006, Amnesty International documented dozens of cases of enforced disappearances in Pakistan, focusing on people who were picked up in the counter terrorism measures adopted by Pakistan in the context of the US-led ‘war on terror’.

At the time, President Pervez Musharraf dismissed Amnesty International’s allegations by stating: “I don’t even want to reply to that, it is nonsense, I don’t believe it, I don’t trust it.”

He added that his government had detained 700 people but that all were accounted for.

In March 2007, President Musharraf again asserted that the claim that hundreds of persons had disappeared in the custody of Pakistani intelligence agencies had “absolutely no basis”.

He said that in fact these individuals had been recruited or lured by “jihadi groups” to fight.

“I am deadly sure that the missing persons are in the control of militant organisations,” he said.

Case studies from the report

Asad Usman, a nine-year-old boy, was picked up by the Balochistan Frontier Constabulary who is on the record as saying that he would be released after his wanted elder brother surrendered.

He was detained in Tump or Mand, near Turbat in Balochistan province. The Supreme Court ordered his release on April 27, 2007.

Masood Janjua, a 45-year-old businessman and father, was apprehended by Pakistani security forces while on a bus in July 2005 with his friend Faisal Faraz, a 25-year-old engineer from Lahore.

The government has not acknowledged that it is holding Janjua, despite testimony from several former detainees.

Dr Imran Munir, a Malaysian citizen of Pakistani origin, was arrested in July 2006 and his whereabouts remained unknown until the Supreme Court was informed in its hearing on May 4, 2007, that he was facing a court martial on charges of “spying against Pakistan”.

A month later the court was informed that Dr Munir had been sentenced to eight years in prison.

The court ordered his appearance in court and, on finding that his health was deteriorating, ordered his admission into hospital.

Dr Munir was set to record his statement regarding his enforced disappearance when the hearing was disrupted with the imposition of the state of emergency in November last year. Dr Munir’s conviction was set aside by military authorities after the Supreme Court questioned the conviction.

Amnesty International has been informed that Dr Munir has not yet been retried on spying charges, which remain pending against him, and that he is still confined to hospital.

New government brings opportunity for change

The report urges the newly elected government of Pakistan – which has pledged to improve Pakistan’s human rights record - to end the policy of denial, investigate all cases of enforced disappearance and hold those responsible to account (Please click here to read AI's Press Release).

Crucially, Pakistan’s new government must reinstate deposed judges who had previously been investigating disappearance cases and were deposed by President Pervez Musharraf when he imposed a state of emergency in the country in November 2007.

“Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has emphasised the coalition government’s commitment to upholding human rights. We urge him to act immediately to resolve all cases of enforced disappearance,” said Zarifi.

“As a first immediate measure, the new government should ease the suffering of the relatives of the ‘disappeared’ by either releasing the detainees or transferring them to official places of detention.”

Source : Dawn

http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/amnesty-reveal-details-of-missing-persons-in-pakistan

The unending ordeal of missing persons' families

2009-12-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

By Nosheen Abbas

Saturday, 25 Jul, 2009

12:41 PM PST

They disappear without a trace. Their mothers, wives, children and families exist in torturous limbo. They lay awaken wondering where their loved ones have gone and in what condition they are. Scary thoughts come to their minds evoking tears and a sharp jab to their heart. Their meaning of life altered forever.

The families of missing people have been hoping against hope since 2001 when enforced abductions began. The highest number of such incidents occurred during 2003 and 2004. The last statistics said 279 persons were missing in Balochistan, 165 in Punjab, 78 in Sindh and 81 in NWFP. Of them 157 have been lucky to rejoin their families, 74 have been traced but there is no word or strand of information about 381. In the meantime 104 more have been abducted, bringing the total of missing persons to 650.

Gazen Khan’s brother Chakar Khan Qumbrani who was abducted in February this year said, ‘he was picked up by intelligence agencies taken to various locations. Some of the victims who were released, said they had seen my brother and were suffering unimaginable mental and physical torture. My brother’s children have gone on a hunger strike too, but that has made absolutely no difference. If he has done something wrong, all we ask for is a proper trial through court.’

Even though, Amina Janjua, who is raising a voice for the missing persons, and others had pinned high hopes on the reinstated CJ, their faith shattered as their cases reached a deadlock. However their hope has been ignited once again with the CJ’s instruction to the interior ministry seeking report about the missing persons in third week of July.

Their hopes fluctuate but their pursuit for tracing their dear ones remains strong in the face of despicable insensitivity of the government mandarins. For months on end Amina Janjua had tried to get in touch with Fehmida Mirza through phone calls, written applications, e-mails, postal mail and constant reminders finally landing an appointment only later to be deceptively told that the Madam Speaker was out of the country.

‘It really feels like our politicians are only in Pakistan for a short stint. Either they are inaccessible or when finally reached lend nothing but false hopes. It was a request to hand over a mural made by children of the victims to the Madam Speaker.’ Amina thought that if the mural were to be hung in the parliament it would be an artistic reminder of the suffering of families of the missing people — a nudge to the conscience of the people who were responsible for the safety and welfare of the people. But perhaps, that very reason met Amina and others like her with unnecessary aggression. In the brazen heat on 25th June as Amina, children and civil society walked towards the parliament, they were absurdly faced with contingents of police armed wearing gas masks and brandishing shields. In Pakistan if there is one aspect where there is no dearth, those are calamitous issues. Since 2007 Pakistan has been struck with a rise in suicide bombings, the surreal ‘take over’ of the Taliban and the subsequent operation displacing millions. And those who have been suffering due to abductions recognize the national issues that have caused the cases of missing people to be pushed in to the background.

Yet addressing the cases of the missing people and ending the suffering of so many Pakistani families should be way ahead of concerns such as sms jokes on politicians. As government representatives continue to exercise ‘delaying tactics,’ the families of missing persons have learnt that the government has no interest in the problems of the people and that their suffering will linger on.

Amina has met with a number of ‘influential’ personalities including Minister of Human Rights Mumtaz Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, DG Crisis Management Cell, Interior Secretary Kamal Shah and secretary defence. But they all seem to parrot the same lines of ‘we don’t have these people, but we are looking for them.’ On May 20, Rehman Malik told Ms Janjua that she will hear good news in two weeks. That high level meetings of officials, including all agencies, provincial government and home departments, were being held. Amina feels that there is more apathy concerning those who are in the custody of local agencies than those in foreign hands.

The family members of the victims have also approached international human rights organizations. ‘They are not as useful either, says Ms Janjua. ‘When it came to John Solecki, their representatives worked aggressively to get him back. But when it comes to us locals they simply submit written requests to find the missing people.’ After a pause she added ‘The world may forget the missing people, but we will not.’

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/14-the-unending-ordeal-of-missing-persons-families-zj-05

Families of missing persons pin hopes on reinstated CJP

2009-12-21T22:16:00.000-08:00

Staff Report

Monday, March 23, 2009

PESHAWAR: Families of missing persons have now pinned hopes on restored Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for recovery of their near and dear ones.

The families told Daily Times that the PPP-led government and Supreme Court (SC) did not take interest in missing persons’ case after sacking of CJ Chaudhry by former president Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007.

“We hope the democratic government will now work for safe recovery of our near and dear ones from custody of secret agencies. One year has passed but the government did nothing in this regard,” said members of the affected families.

Shamsun Nissa, 60, remembers her only son Attiqur Rehman, who she says was allegedly picked up by intelligence agencies from his hometown Abbottabad on the day he was to get married in June 2004.

The aged woman says she believes that she will now get justice from the SC and will get her son back alive. Her husband Saddiqur Rehman has long given up all hopes and refused to take part in demonstrations staged in Islamabad by relatives of missing persons for their recovery. But, the mother, a diabetic, still vows to continue her struggle for her son’s safe recovery. “Can someone tell me where he is. I wish I could talk to him once. I want to plead to the prime minister and the CJ to help us. I’m sure they will feel my pain,” said the 60-year-old.

“It is Musharraf’s government which offered job to my son in Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) as an officer due to his ability and conferred a gold medal on him. But, it is also the same government to pick him up after serving in the commission,” she said. On September 20, 2007, intelligence agencies allegedly raided the office of former general secretary of Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA), Ishtiaq Ibrahim, and picked up his clients Dalil and Agha Gul, residents of Afghanistan.

Aslam Khan, a family member of the missing persons, said they had tried time and again to know about their whereabouts but to no avail. He said it was tragic that the intelligence agencies picked up his relatives from the office of a known lawyer and now they were showing their complete ignorance about their whereabouts. He hoped the SC now would get the missing persons released.

Habeas corpus petition of Gulmina and Rahmat Bibi has been disposed of by Peshawar High Court after the police and intelligence agencies showed their ignorance about whereabouts of their sons Mohammad Sharif and Raj Wali.

Both women belonged to a poor family. They said their sons were neither Taliban, nor terrorists, but the intelligence agencies had allegedly picked them up on suspicions of terrorism. They said they would plead the case for recovery of their sons in the SC as the CJ had been restored now. Ratio of missing persons has increased in NWFP, particularly in Swat district, over the last two years. Now petitions have started to pour in PHC for their recovery.

According to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a total of 242 persons are missing at

present, 170 of them in Balochistan, 70 Sindh, 42 Punjab and 22 NWFP. Amina Janjua, whose husband Masood Janjua has been missing since May 2005 and who had led a movement for recovery of missing persons, has appealed to civil society, lawyers, and other professionals to continue supporting the case of the missing persons.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\03\23\story_23-3-2009_pg7_20

Govt forms probe team to trace missing persons

2009-12-21T22:14:00.000-08:00

Friday, 13 Nov, 2009

04:45 AM PST

ISLAMABAD: On the 11th day of a camp set up outside the Supreme Court to protest against inaction on the issue of missing persons, the government informed Amna Masood Janjua, chairperson of the Defence of Human Rights, that a six-member joint investigating team comprising representatives of security agencies had been formed.

‘On the directions of the minister for interior, the home secretary of Punjab has formed a joint investigation team comprising Rawalpindi City Police Officer as convener, representatives of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), special branch, Crime Investigation Department (CID) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) as members,’ a letter issued by the National Crisis Management Cell to Ms Janjua said.

Ms Janjua is required to nominate representatives from her side so that a meeting of the team is convened soon.

Ms Janjua, who has been campaigning for the release of missing persons, including her husband Masood Janjua since 2005, appreciated the gesture, but refused to close the camp until she was clearly informed about the fate of her husband.

‘Enough is enough, I am not going to budge until informed about my husband,’ she told reporters.

She said she was taken to the interior ministry in a car and was dropped at the camp after she had received the letter.

Taking notice of the families sitting in a camp outside the apex court, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had on Nov 4 ordered the interior secretary to submit a complete report about the husband of the human rights activist.

Islamabad IGP Kaleem Imam, Interior Secretary Qamar Zaman and Rawalpindi RPO Aslam Tareen appeared before the bench to report that cases of 416 missing persons were subjudice in the apex court since Sept 2006.

However, the report said the interior ministry was trying to trace them; 241 missing persons had already been traced while 175 were still untraced.

It also said that particulars of missing persons were being collected and help of Nadra has been taken in this regard.

Lists of missing people have also been sent to provinces and law-enforcement personnel to enhance efforts to locate them.

A special task force has also been formed for the purpose.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/12-govt+forms+probe+team+to+trace+missing+persons--bi-10

Families of ‘missing persons’ protest in Quetta

2009-12-21T22:10:00.000-08:00

hursday, December 03, 2009

* Voice of Missing Baloch Persons head says government has not freed even one registered missing person

By Malik Siraj Akbar

QUETTA: Several families of “missing persons” protested outside the Quetta Press Club on Wednesday against the “unfulfilled promise” of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to release their dear ones.

The protest rally was organised by the Voice of the Missing Baloch Persons (VMBP). The protesters, carrying photographs of their missing relatives, shouted slogans against the government for not taking tangible measures for the recovery of their family members. Addressing a press conference, VMBP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch said the prime minister had not fulfilled his promise. He rejected the government claim that around 20 missing persons had already been released.

Registered: He claimed that the government had not released a single missing person registered with them. According to him, a majority of the people who returned to their homes belonged to the Langov tribe and were released in line with efforts made by a tribal leader, Mir Khalid Langov. “The released Bugtis had in fact never gone missing,” he asserted. “They were held in a jail in Sui,” he disclosed.

Long march: He announced to hold a long march against the government on December 10. He said the march would start from Balochistan University and end at the Quetta Press Club.

“Violation of human rights by the intelligence agencies is taking place in Balochistan despite the presence of a democratic government and a self-proclaimed independent judiciary,” he said, adding that the families of the missing persons would also launch a long march to Islamabad for the release of their relatives.

Baloch said his organisation had compiled data of around one hundred missing persons and was in touch with more families. According to him, prominent missing persons included Ali Asghar Baloch, Jalil Reiki, Dr Din Muhammad Baloch, Abdul Hayee Bangulzai, Zakir Majeed, Chakar Marri, Mushtaq Baloch, Saeed Ahmed Mohammad Hasani, Nazir Marri, Majeeb Baloch, Master Yahya, Najeeb Qambarani, Haider Marri, Iqbal Baloch, Faiz Baloch, Hafiz Saeed-ur-Rehman, Ghulam Mustafa Shahwani, Ghulam Mustafa Sasoli, Attaullah Baloch, Kabir Baloch, Sadullah Baloch, Sami Baloch, Mama Naseer Jattak, Hasan Marri, Shabbir Sumalani, Saifullah Ababaki, Niaz Muhammad, Abdul Karim Baloch, Faizullah Marri, Jalath Khan Marri, Jumma Khan Marri, Liaquat Bugti, Ganju Bugti and Shah Muhammad Zarkon. Balochistan’s Information Minister Younus Mullazai was not available for comment.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\12\03\story_3-12-2009_pg7_21

Judge resumes case of Pakistan's missing persons

2009-12-21T22:07:00.000-08:00

Posted by Agencies at 08:55 AM GMT on Mar 24, 2009

Chaudhry hopes to discover the fate of people allegedly held in secret detention

ISLAMABAD (AFP): The families of missing people in Pakistan are pinning their hopes on Pakistan's reinstated top judge, who returns to court today for the first time in 16 months.

Zahida Sharif is hoping that her husband, who went missing four years ago, will come home. Her life as a happy, pregnant wife ended when her doctor husband disappeared on his way to work on 16 September 2005.

Suspecting he had been arrested by Pakistan's secretive security agencies, and alone with two young sons, she says she was too frightened to report his case to police. There has never been any word from the authorities.

Hope came when the independent chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took up the cases of several of the missing, out of hundreds allegedly taken into government custody after Pakistan joined the US-led "war on terror."

Chaudhry ordered the security services to produce several of the missing in court before he was sacked by military ruler Pervez Musharraf in November 2007.

"The restoration of Iftikhar Chaudhry has given me new hope of seeing my husband, Abid, soon," said Zahida from her home in Rawalpindi.

Unemployed, she depends on her brothers to survive. Her youngest son has never met his father, born seven months after he disappeared. Her two elder sons are away at school on scholarships.

Her husband was a doctor in a government hospital in Taxila, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its ancient Buddhist ruins near the capital Islamabad.

"He left home for the hospital at 6:00 am and told me he would return after four days. That was the last I heard of him," Zahida said.

Rights groups accuse the authorities of holding hundreds of people in secret detention as part of the "war on terror" in Pakistan, a frontline state battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda, buffeted by a wave of deadly violence.

Zahida says her husband, a pious Muslim, did not visit Afghanistan, where the Taliban are fighting against US troops. She thinks he may have been arrested because of his hostility to Musharraf.

"He's a good Muslim, praying five times a day and he has beard. He used to openly abuse general Musharraf. That may be why he was arrested," she said.

"The way Abid vanished suggests it was the work of agencies," her lawyer, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, told AFP, alluding to the country's shadowy military and civilian intelligence services.

Chaudhry's supporters say a factor in his dismissal was his interest in the missing persons, which could have embarrassed Musharraf and his US allies.

Two months before he was dismissed, Chaudhry said there was "overwhelming evidence" that the missing were held by government agencies. The vast majority have never appeared in any court.

Rights groups accuse the government of violating these people's rights by holding them in secret, failing to charge them or put them on trial. Amnesty International has called on Pakistan to act immediately to resolve the cases and last July cited local organisations as saying there were at least 563 cases of enforced disappearance.

"We don't know exactly how many people have been detained and where they have been kept," Pakistani human rights activist Tahira Abdullah told AFP.

"There are many intelligence agencies in Pakistan. They keep these people in the country and some have been handed over to the US," she alleged.

The US embassy in Islamabad could not comment.

Pakistan's human rights ministry said it was investigating cases of the missing, working from a list provided by activist Amina Masood Janjua, whose husband disappeared.

"The previous government suspected that these people, one way or the other, were helping militants," said spokesman Khalid Amin Qureshi. "We are fully cooperating with Amina and pursuing the cases of missing people with the interior and law ministries," he added.

Dozens of relatives have thronged outside Chaudhry's house, calling for him to make finding their loved ones a priority despite his enormous work load.

"The chief justice fixed 11 November 2007 to hear the case of my missing husband. I hope he will start hearing the case where he left off," Zahida said.

http://www.instantnews.net/Print.aspx?AID=2092

2009-11-03T09:08:00.000-08:00

Related articles on missing persons in Pakistan and elsewhere
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-57533387/missing-persons-critique-personhood.html

Court Hearing for Dr Aafia

2009-11-03T08:51:00.001-08:00

Court Hearing For Dr Aafia:

THIS TUESDAY, November 03, 2009 at 2:00pm

Federal Court

500 Pearl Street, Manhattan, New York

Judge Richard Berman's Court

Please inform friends who may be in the New York Area and can make the time.

If you are unable to attend please say a prayer for Aafia.

Thank you

Ministry asked how Aafia’s case can be taken to ICJ

2009-06-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

Ministry asked how Aafia’s case can be taken to ICJ

* Senate committee questions ‘US story’ on Dr Aafia * Believes she was in US custody since 2003, charged in 2008

By Tahir Niaz

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Saturday asked the Law Ministry to give its opinion on the possibilities of taking the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist detained in the US, to the International Court of Justice.Earlier, Dr Aafia’s elder sister, Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, informed the committee that the government had handed over her sister to US authorities in 2003, long before she was charged for terrorism in 2008.Asked if the government had approached the International Court of Justice in this regard, Fauzia said authorities told her that they could not get US permission for the move.

The committee questioned the credibility of charges framed by US authorities against Pakistani scientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui, saying she has been in US custody since 2003, but was charged ..... in Afghanistan in 2008.It also summoned then interior minister and secretary to explain the circumstances under which she landed at Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase after going missing along with her three children from Karachi in 2003.

Dr Fauzia said Faisal Saleh Hayat, the interior minister at the time, confessed in a TV programme in 2003 that Pakistani authorities had handed over Dr Aafia to the US.She said she could produce TV footage in which an FIA spokesman stated in 2003 that “(Dr Aafia) is practically in the hands of the FBI”.

She said the charges framed against her sister of firing on US soldiers in Afghanistan in 2008 were fake, as she was already in US custody..........Committee Chairman Talha Mahmood asked ministry officials if Dr Aafia was provided consular access in Afghanistan before US authorities took her to the US.Upon being told that she was not, Talha said Dr Aafia’s extradition to the US was illegal.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?date=11/2/2009%206:34:52%20PM

Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity

US-Pakistan fight against extremism must address missing persons

by Mehlaqa Samdani

15 January 2009

Pittsfield, Massachusetts - The United States and Pakistan have to work together in various areas to improve their chances of success in the campaign against extremism. There is one issue specifically which, if addressed by the United States, could positively impact all these areas: the missing persons of Pakistan — people picked up by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies on suspicion of terrorist activity and detained without charge or trial.

Since Pakistan’s involvement in the US-led “war on terror” seven years ago, more than five hundred Pakistanis have been abducted, detained and tortured. Some have been handed over to US intelligence officials and transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

The forced disappearance of Pakistani citizens is not only a gross violation of Pakistan’s constitution and its extradition and criminal laws, but also stands in violation of international law.

Two years ago, Pakistan’s Supreme Court took notice of the issue and threatened Pakistan’s intelligence agencies with legal action if they failed to bring the detainees before a court of law. Challenged for the first time in their history, the agencies capitulated and people began to resurface. While many were afraid to speak, others gave harrowing accounts of their ordeal.

The process, however, came to an abrupt halt in November 2007 when emergency rule was imposed in Pakistan and the Chief Justice of Pakistan and sixty other judges were unlawfully sacked.No progress has since been made on the issue.

Pakistan’s current civilian government, democratically elected in February 2008, remains weak and has largely been unable to hold its agencies accountable for their involvement in the disappearances of Pakistani citizens. It has also, for its own political reasons, continued with the previous government’s policy of keeping the judiciary under strict executive control.

Sadly, families of the missing have more confidence in the new US administration’s ability to resolve this humanitarian issue than in their own government’s will and capacity to do so. This is an opening that, if seized on by the Obama administration, could go a long way towards improving relations between the Pakistani public and the US government.

Pakistanis hope that under its new president, the United States will pursue the campaign against terrorism in full compliance with its values and ideals rather than relying on the practice of illegal detentions, extraordinary renditions and secret prisons that characterised Bush-era efforts.

The last seven years show that these practices have only increased anti-Americanism around the world and reduced the support for the fight against extremism, and have not made Americans safer.So what steps must the US government take to begin the recovery of Pakistan’s missing persons and in the process advance its short- and long-term interests in the region?

First, it should reverse the Bush administration’s policy of keeping people in legal black holes and encourage Pakistan to do the same. There should be a joint investigation of Pakistan’s missing persons led by American and Pakistani legislators and mechanisms worked out to immediately release those in American and Pakistani custody who have not been charged with a crime.

Second, US calls for reform of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies should be made in the context of the missing persons issue. This will have the widespread support of the Pakistani population and could afford the civilian government a public-oriented excuse to rein in the agencies.

Private and public support offered by the US could empower Pakistan’s civilian government to confront its intelligence agencies and finally begin the reform process that would eventually bring them under civilian control.

The US and Pakistani governments should also issue a joint public statement declaring that the future surrender of fugitives will be governed by the formal extradition process of Pakistan—which mandates that a Pakistani magistrate must conduct a judicial inquiry of the offence allegedly carried out by the suspect before the government can determine whether or not to surrender him. Exhibiting respect for Pakistan’s laws will restore confidence in the rule of law and also demonstrate US commitment to strengthening Pakistan’s institutions.

Finally, if the US’s Biden-Lugar bill (which authorises non-military aid to Pakistan worth $1.5 billion annually for ten years) becomes law, a portion of the funding could be directed towards local organisations in Pakistan working on human rights issues, particularly those striving to recover Pakistan’s missing persons. A fund could be set up to provide reparations to the families of those who were illegally detained.

This is a critical moment to advance the rule of law in Pakistan and redirect US relations with the Pakistani public. Resolving the missing persons issue will do just that, as well as build Pakistan’s capacity to combat extremism over the long term.

* Mehlaqa Samdani is a US-based consultant working on US-Pakistan relations. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from the Daily Times, Pakistan.

Source: Daily Times, Pakistan 8 January 2009, http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/.

http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=24659&lan=en&sid=1&sp=0

Judge resumes case of Pakistan's missing persons

2009-06-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

ISLAMABAD (AFP): The families of missing people in Pakistan are pinning their hopes on Pakistan's reinstated top judge, who returns to court today for the first time in 16 months.

Chaudhry ordered the security services to produce several of the missing in court before he was sacked by military ruler Pervez Musharraf in November 2007.

"The restoration of Iftikhar Chaudhry has given me new hope of seeing my husband, Abid, soon," said Zahida from her home in Rawalpindi.

Unemployed, she depends on her brothers to survive. Her youngest son has never met his father, born seven months after he disappeared. Her two elder sons are away at school on scholarships.

Her husband was a doctor in a government hospital in Taxila, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its ancient Buddhist ruins near the capital Islamabad.

"He left home for the hospital at 6:00 am and told me he would return after four days. That was the last I heard of him," Zahida said.

Zahida says her husband, a pious Muslim, did not visit Afghanistan, where the Taliban are fighting against US troops. She thinks he may have been arrested because of his hostility to Musharraf. "He's a good Muslim, praying five times a day and he has beard. He used to openly abuse general Musharraf. That may be why he was arrested," she said.

"The way Abid vanished suggests it was the work of agencies," her lawyer, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, told AFP, alluding to the country's shadowy military and civilian intelligence services. Chaudhry's supporters say a factor in his dismissal was his interest in the missing persons, which could have embarrassed Musharraf and his US allies. Two months before he was dismissed, Chaudhry said there was "overwhelming evidence" that the missing were held by government agencies.

The vast majority have never appeared in any court. Rights groups accuse the government of violating these people's rights by holding them in secret, failing to charge them or put them on trial. Amnesty International has called on Pakistan to act immediately to resolve the cases and last July cited local organisations as saying there were at least 563 cases of enforced disappearance.

"We don't know exactly how many people have been detained and where they have been kept," Pakistani human rights activist Tahira Abdullah told AFP. "There are many intelligence agencies in Pakistan. They keep these people in the country and some have been handed over to the US," she alleged. The US embassy in Islamabad could not comment. Pakistan's human rights ministry said it was investigating cases of the missing, working from a list provided by activist Amina Masood Janjua, whose husband disappeared.

"The previous government suspected that these people, one way or the other, were helping militants," said spokesman Khalid Amin Qureshi.

"We are fully cooperating with Amina and pursuing the cases of missing people with the interior and law ministries," he added. Dozens of relatives have thronged outside Chaudhry's house, calling for him to make finding their loved ones a priority despite his enormous work load.

"The chief justice fixed 11 November 2007 to hear the case of my missing husband. I hope he will start hearing the case where he left off," Zahida said.

http://www.instantnews.net/judge-resumes-case-of-pakistans-missing-persons.aspx