|
|
|
| September 6, 2005 | Tuesday | Shaban 01, 1426 |
Police, agencies come under fire: Senate body takes up Sonia case
ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: Government as well as opposition senators on Monday criticized the functioning of the police and intelligence agencies and called for strict check on their activities. The members were speaking at a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights while discussing the Sonia Naz rape case and other issues related to the arrests and detention of suspects, sources told Dawn here on Monday.
The meeting, requisitioned by the opposition members, was presided over by Senator S.M. Zafar.
The sources said the senators expressed their concern over the increase in the incidents of rape in Pakistan. Senator Dr Mohammad Said quoted a British newspaper as saying that Pakistani police stations had turned into “rape stations”.
The Senate body took up the Sonia Naz case and asked the government to address the concerns expressed by the rape victim against the one-member inquiry tribunal, set up by the Punjab government.
The sources said one of the opposition members told the committee that Sonia Naz had refused to appear before the judicial inquiry tribunal of the district and sessions judge, Faisalabad, Abdul Wahid Khan, saying the judge was a close relative of one of the accused, Jamshed Chishti, and, therefore, her reservations should be removed emphatically.
S.M. Zafar deplored that rape incidents had been bringing a bad name to the country and recalled the high profile rape incidents, involving Mukhtaran Mai, Dr Shazia Khalid and now Sonia Naz. He said “corporate interests” had compounded the rape case of Dr Shazia Khalid.
Mr Zafar asked the state minister for interior, Dr Shahzad Waseem, to find out as to why FIR had not been registered despite the fact that written complaint had been filed by Sonia Naz. The committee also asked the interior division to produce the victim at the next meeting of the committee.
According to sources, the committee members also discussed the role of intelligence agencies in the arrests and detention of suspects. One of the members said even the country’s courts were powerless before these intelligence agencies.
Meanwhile, soon after the Senate body concluded discussion on Sonia Naz case, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar moved two resolutions aimed at bringing the state agencies under the ambit of law in matters of arrest and detention of suspects.
The resolutions were admitted in the committee for discussion at its next meeting.
The Senate committee also took up the matter of the two missing Baloch sisters. Mr Babar said Arifa and Habiba Baloch, aged 20 and 19, respectively, were first reported to have been arrested by security agencies in Swat on June 10, 2005.
During hearing in habeas corpus petition in Peshawar High Court last week, the government, however, denied any knowledge of the two women, he said.
He said the whereabouts of the missing Baloch girls were still not known. He also recalled the mysterious disappearance of two brother doctors in Karachi last year for eight months and said cases of mysterious disappearances have echoed in the Parliament from time to time.
He said the government had initially denied knowledge of such disappearances until the victims resurfaced from the custody of law enforcement agencies.
He said instances of mysterious disappearances were on the increase in the country and it was important that the Human Rights Committee took note of such incidents and demanded legislation on the subject.
The mover then moved a resolution that said, “The Functional Committee of Human Rights of the Senate has noted that there appears to be no act of parliament that regulates the functioning of state agencies in matters of raids, detention and arrest of suspects.
“The committee feels that in the absence of an act of Parliament the human rights of individuals are gravely endangered. The committee calls upon the government to enact suitable legislation to regulate the working of state agencies so as to meet the ends of justice and also protect the human rights of citizens.”
|
|
|
|
