This is the true face of this dictator and his regime. I have said before that Pakistan under Mushrraf is like Iraq was under Saddam. Here is one more example and how the regime is getting away with violation of human rights.
Fading hopes for the ‘disappeared’
Monday, November 19, 2007
The disbandment of the full-bench of the Supreme Court, hearing the case of about 100 ‘disappeared’ people, and initial indications of a changed tone and tenor from the apex court, come as a blow to the families of victims of enforced disappearances. Till early November, when emergency was slapped on the country, the families of these persons had had reason to hope they would soon be freed. The tough stance adopted by the court, its warnings to top intelligence agencies and its harsh words to government officials, had raised the possibility of more people emerging from the secret places of detention where they continue to be held, sometimes for years. Indeed, largely as a result of the active role adopted by the court, at least 99 secretly detained persons, who featured on a list of 198 ‘disappeared’ people put before the court by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) early this year, in a petition seeking their release, had been set free, and the whereabouts of several others uncovered.
Investigations by the court, and evidence from accounts given by those released, also led the bench to conclude that these persons were in the hands of intelligence agencies. It is unfortunate that rather than utilizing these findings to restrict, or at least regulate, the working of intelligence agencies, the regime has instead enacted laws, such as recent amendments in the Army Act, which give further protection to these agencies. Previously too, President Musharraf had insisted that the ‘missing’ people had in fact themselves ventured away from their homes for ‘jihad’. This conclusion ignores reality. **The fact is that the largest number among the ‘disappeared’ are young Baloch men, known as belonging to progressive, indeed secular, schools of thought. Others on the list are prominent Sindhi writers or poets, again known to be at least as fervently opposed to religious extremism as the president himself.
Sadly, a few seem to have been victimized simply because of a personal issue pitching them against intelligence personnel, and a large number, according to testimonies they have provided to the court, have suffered severe torture while in custody.** For some, this has brought lasting physical and psychological damage. It is unfortunate that rather than taking up the issue of such persons, and indeed the wider matter of human rights abuses committed by state agencies, the regime would prefer such matters to be buried and hidden away. Already, Pakistan’s name figures on the lists of countries where enforced disappearances are an issue, and Amnesty International, among other groups, has campaigned extensively to draw attention to their plight. All well-wishers of Pakistan would surely wish that the country’s name could be removed from this category of countries. This can happen only if the existence of human-rights abuses is squarely acknowledged and faced up to, so these problems can be resolved. Denying that these are an issue at all, or wreaking wrath on all those who deign to take up the matter, including the courts, can, in the longer run, solve nothing at all.