Baloch group raises concerns about killings of missing persons in fake encounters
Nov 17, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], November 18 : A Baloch delegation recently met with members of the Missing Persons Commission and the leader of Balochistan National Party (Mengal) Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal, according to Pakistan vernacular media.
The delegation headed by activist Sammi Deen Baloch complained about the killings of missing persons in fake encounters. She also raised concerns about the harassment of Baloch students and other issues concerning the minority community.
This meeting came in the wake of a 50-day sit-in of Baloch activists. This protest came to halt after a committee headed by the Pakistan Law Minister accepted the demands of rights activists and promised to solve their problems.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had assured that there will be no more encounters. Even after that assurance, three encounters have been reported and people are still missing. Students are still being harassed.
In the meeting of the Missing Persons Committee, several relatives of the missing persons were not given a chance to speak about their grievances.
Last month, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed reservations concerning the recently passed Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2022, which deals with widespread enforced disappearances in the country.
The bill, passed in Pak Senate last month, seeks to further amend the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, the anti-dumping duties bill and the Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions Bill, the Dawn newspaper reported.
"While the amendment acknowledges the crime of enforced disappearance and defines this as the 'unlawful or illegal deprivation of liberty by an agent of the state', it does not address the need for a new legal architecture extending civilian oversight to these very agents," the HRCP said in a statement.
Such a provision is central to any effective legislation to curb enforced disappearances, given the thousands of allegations and testimonies that hold state agencies responsible for this practice, HRCP said.
"Legislation to determine the mandate of state agencies such as the ISI is also necessary, given that it has claimed in front of the superior courts to have had 'lawful' authority to arrest persons accused of 'anti-state activities," the Lahore-based group said.
