January 18, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 27, 1427

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KARACHI, Jan 17: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has sent a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, apprising him of the disappearance of three more people in Sindh.

The commission has expressed the suspicion that the missing persons may have been picked up by secret agency personnel. The three missing men are: Cheetan Kumar, 45, of Bajeer Mohalla, Umerkot district; Gordhan Das alias G.M. Bhagat, 55, also of Umerkot; and Greesh Kumar, 22, a graduate of the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro.

“I am writing to voice my total condemnation of another three abductions, allegedly committed by state secret agents in Sindh province between July and September 2006,” wrote Muhammad Ejaz Ahsan, programme coordinator of the HRCP in the letter.

The letter said Cheetan Kumar had been picked up by eight armed plainclothesmen from his house on July 17. Twenty-two-year-old Greesh Kumar was picked up by four persons from his flat in Amir Terrace, Hyderabad, on Aug 17. Gordhan Das was picked up in September from a barber shop located opposite the Sessions Court of Umerkot district.

According to the son of Gordhan Das, the men who kidnapped his father had warned that registration of an FIR would be dealt with severely.

The HRCP official said the Umerkot police refused to register a case of kidnapping and disappearance, saying cases could not be registered against secret agencies.

“Threats of kidnapping and torture made by government officials are appalling and must be considered criminal, while the policemen’s refusal to lodge an FIR is unacceptable and cowardly,” said the letter.

The HRCP requested the Chief Justice to look into the matter and put an end to “acts of terror”.