LAHORE: Renowned human rights activist and lawyer Asma Jehangir on Sunday said picking up of civilians in Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa allegedly by security agencies must stop.

She was speaking at the concluding session of a two-day regional judicial consultation, titled ‘Role of Judiciary in Enforcing Human Rights in South Asia’, organised jointly by Pakistan Institute of Labor Research and Education and South Asia Partnership-Pakistan.

“In such cases of disappearances, the missing persons are in the custody of Frontier Constabulary or the Inter-Services Intelligence. Under what law these agencies arrest and pick up people by force and torture them,” she questioned.

She expressed concern over the increasing violation of human rights and the role the judiciary was playing. She appreciated individuals taking a stand for those who had no say in front of the state, government and judiciary.

During various investigations, Asma further said, it was revealed that 150 of the total disappeared persons died of cardiac arrest during the detention period. She questioned why the Supreme Court did not dare order action against the culprits involved in torturing innocent people.

She also voiced concern over cancellation of a discussion on Balochistan at a university here, saying, “The people just want to know why Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not take action against those involved in disrupting such important discussions. Is Balochistan not part of Pakistan?”

Eminent rights activist and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Secretary General I.A. Rehman expressed concern over failure of the judiciary regarding forced disappearances.

“Of the total, 420 such cases were filed in the Supreme Court but the court’s attitude was negative as it suggested filing all these cases in individual capacity, which was a long and difficult procedure for us,” he said.

He sought for bringing a change in the nation’s attitude by educating masses on issues related to their rights. He added that when a state was weakened, it adopted violence and torture to control lives of citizens and deprive them of their basic human rights like heath, education and livelihoods.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2015

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