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326 and called for the protection of Dr. Shabih ul Hasan Hashmi’s family.
HRCP stands
Enforced disappearance
January 24: HRCP expressed alarm at reports that the dead body of yet
another person who had been detained for suspected involvement in an attack
on the military headquarters has been found.
In a statement the Commission said: “HRCP notes with serious concern
that with the recovery of Abdul Saboor’s body in Peshawar late last week,
four of the 11 persons held on charges of involvement in the GHQ attack have
now turned up dead. Their families had earlier spoken of the detained men
being tortured and apprehended that they would be killed. The plight of the
families of the four men killed and the seven who are believed to be alive, at
least for now, is similar to hundreds of others who have been devastated by
enforced disappearances by agents of the state across the country.”
HRCP demanded that the government must not wait for the aggrieved
families to lodge petitions before it decides to look into the killings. A probe
into the alleged torture of the four persons and the circumstances of their
death must immediately be launched to the satisfaction of the victims’ families
and must proceed to identify and punish their tormentors. HRCP also urged
the government to put an end to the practice of undesirable enforced
disappearances and the hope that future cases will not be dealt with similar
disregard of human rights.
April 02: HRCP highlighted the difficulties in verifying cases of enforced
disappearance in Balochistan and urged all concerned to play their role in
documenting these cases to ensure that those in unlawful detention are freed,
the illegal practice is brought to an end, and no enforced disappearance case
escapes attention.
HRCP said: “It is a matter of concern that enforced disappearances still
continue in Pakistan” The Commission expressed the concern at the difficulty
in documenting disappearances. The HRCP had filed the petition for missing
persons in the Supreme Court in 2007 the number of verified cases did not
exceed a little over 400. HRCP called upon the government to redouble efforts
to ensure that all those in illegal detention of government agencies are released
without delay and the illegal practice is stopped forthwith.”
May 23: The killing of Sindhi nationalist leader Muzaffar Bhutto, one of
the prominent victims of enforced disappearance in Sindh, and the brazen
attack on a peaceful political rally in Karachi on Tuesday that claimed at least
16 lives appear to be the latest manifestations of violent suppression of political
debate and in the absence of effective measures can plunge Sindh into
Balochistan-style mayhem, the HRCP said.
The Commission said: “The body of Muzaffar Bhutto, Secretary General
of Jiye Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, who went missing in February 2011, was
found near Hyderabad. He was shot in the head and in the upper torso and the