DHR Pakistan

Today we want to open our press conference with showing solidarity with the National and international Journalists ,who have given sacrifices and conveyed the truth even at the cost of their lives. They have suffered atrocities , harassment , abductions, live threats and even brutal murders, but none could deviate them from their dutiful commitment. DHR salutes them and feels their concern as their own.This clearly shows that the victims of Enforced Disappearances and the Journalists are in the same boat, braving the same challenges together.Year 2011 ends with a winning note by the perpetrator of human rights violations. Most prominent feature of this year is the terrible legislation by President of Pakistan to legalize enforced disappearance. Government and it representatives has put in every effort to distract legal proceedings in courts to provide justice to victims of enforced disappearance. Despite nerve shattering struggle by DHR to trace already missing person, the number of abductions have been increasing steadily.

DHR asserts its reservations about the two very obnoxious ordinances passed by President Asif Ali Zardari in June 2011 namely Actions (In aid of civil power) Regulations 2011 for FATA and Actions (In aid of civil power) Regulations 2011 for PATA. The said ordinance allows army officials to arrest, detain and penalize any person without any protection of law. The period of detention is not defined which means it is unlimited.The name of the ordinance suggests that it is meant for only tribal areas but this is not the fact, it is rather meant for citizens belonging to any part of Pakistan. In fact it is worded so deviously that one cannot understand easily. We condemn such draconian laws whether made for whole Pakistan or just for FATA. The most shameful fact about this law is that it is ten times more cruel than the notorious Public Safety Act which India applies to subjugate citizens of Indian held Kashmir. A comparative study will show that our government has stooped even lower than Indian atrocities in serving their American masters.

One of the  most famous and cruelest example of human rights abuse is that of 11 missing persons who were abducted on the day of their release from Adiyala Jail in May last year. The fact that now out of 11, three detainees have expired in the illegal detention. Of course they could not bear the unlimited torture. It is enough to give us shudders in our spine. Their families have been intimidated to keep mum and remain thankful that at least the dead bodies have been handed over to cry over them and bury them where they may please.Incidents like these further horrifies the victim families now fearing every second for the life of their “Disappeared Loved-ones.”

Our aim is to Strengthen rule of law and promote justice at all costs, that is why we strongly and vehemently condemn Enforced Disappearance. Disappearing a person once and for all and never telling his whereabouts is the most cruel method of spreading fear in masses. Hitler introduced this tyrannical technique. Intelligence and other law enforcement agencies are used as tentacles to achieve this target. Under the rule of military dictator General Perwaiz Musharraf, Pakistani higher ups adopted enforced disappearance as a primary tool in the name of counter terrorism. After Musharraf’s dismissal the situation did not change a bit. People taking his place in power circles are following the same policies of slavery in letter and spirit.

Year 2011 has shown us that slavery is no guarantee of safety. It is high time that people who are ruling Pakistan must realize that they need to adopt such policies which are based on the true and independent opinion of common man of Pakistan. They must learn that they can win hearts only by protecting human rights and civil liberties of all the citizens. Rationality demands that so called War on terror should be over and all the harm done in its wake be reversed in the interest of the nation, particularly for those who were enforced disappeared, victimized and tortured since 9/11.

Despite all efforts by human rights activists and courts the speed of illegal abductions is double if not three fold than the rate of tracing them. This phenomenon can never be harnessed unless and until there is a willingness in the relevant quarters to stop it once and for all. The stats of abductions during the year 2011 shows clearly that it has become a very easy tool to counter opponents by abducting them be they agencies, police, tribal groups, landlords or any other mafias.

Stats of 2011.are as follows…..

 

It should be remembered that above figures are related to only year 2011.  There are about 300 cases still pending from previous years. Also not all cases get registered due to certain reasons. No of cases registered with interior ministry is 485.

The civil and armed leadership must realise the dangers posed to our borders and to our sovereignty as a nation. We must realise the conspiracies being hatched  and the offensive intentions of the real enemy. It is posing like a friend but its black face has been exposed at the face of its cruelties. In short this is the time to mend our foreign and national policies for good, making it in the interest of its people and maintaining the stance firmly !!….” GO HOME U.S. NO MORE COOPERATIONS  NOW!!! ”

DHR urges the relevant authorities, Government, Army and Agencies and all the political and social parties to play their role to end enforced disappearance. We demand release of all the detained and imprisoned citizens suffering beyond the protection of all laws of the world. The detainees of Guantanamo, Bagram and all the notorious prisons of the world and CIA centers must be given a fair trial and subsequently released.

DHR vows to continue its struggle come what may. We will not hesitate a single second in the interest of Justice. We may go for a day and night Camp of unlimited time frame, in case our demands are not met asap. It is our New Year commitment and resolve. Inshallah.