| December 17, 2006 | Sunday | Ziqa'ad 25, 1427 |
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Los desaparecidos of Pakistan
ONE of the world’s two most famously successful and ruthless dictators of the 20th century died on December 10, General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. The other, Cuban Fidel Castro, is a dying man, probably soon to follow him to the dictators’ happy hunting ground in the nether or upper world.
During Pinochet’s 17-year reign over Chile (1973-1990) he unleashed violence that had no precedent in his country. In all, 3,197 of the previous regime’s supporters were murdered under his dictatorship, the majority of them swiftly during his first year in power. Pinochet perfected the art of the disappearing act. The ‘desaparecidos’ were arrested, then killed, and Pinochet’s government disavowed all knowledge of them. An estimated 30,000 Chileans were imprisoned, tortured and eventually released.
As The Economist of December 12 has eloquently pointed out, Pinochet may not have been brought to justice for his crimes — most of his ilk have escaped any form of justice other than suicide (Adolf Hitler), or comfortable exile (Idi Amin, Mengitsu Haile Mariam, Baby Doc Duvalier), or they have died in office (Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, Papa Doc Duvalier, Dear Leader Kim Il Sung) — but his arrest in London in 1998 was a red letter day in international law, as was the House of Lords’ approval of his extradition to Spain on charges of human rights violations. That his health and age saved him is not a factor — the important point is that he set a trend and hopefully brutal dictators will no longer consider themselves immune from prosecution for crimes against humanity.
We have seen the prosecution of Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia, of Liberia’s Charles Taylor, and famously of Saddam Hussain. Juan Maria Bordaberry of Uruguay was arrested last month on charges of politically motivated murder: an order has been issued for the arrest of Mexico’s former president, Luis Echeverria for the massacre of student protesters; Jorge Videla, head of Argentina’s former military junta, has had his presidential pardon overturned; a former Brazilian secret police chief is being investigated; and Peru has asked for the extradition from Chile of former president, Alberto Fujimoro.
So, to quote : “... the Pinochet case set a precedent, and inspired victims around the world, particularly in Latin America, to challenge the amnesties of the 1980s and 1990s that had shielded dictators and their henchmen from prosecution. In the annals of international law, it is for this that General Pinochet will be remembered rather than for his own lucky escape from justice.”
Back home, here in Pakistan, under the enlightened and moderate dictatorship of President General Pervez Musharraf, where enforced disappearances have multiplied alarmingly since 9/11. Victims are also awakening. In August 2006, a mother (Zainab Khatoon) and wife (Amina Masood Janjua) whose son and husband had disappeared, filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking information as to their whereabouts and of various other missing relatives and friends. The two families joined hands and submitted a list of 41 missing persons.
On November 10, the court ordered the government to recover the missing persons and report back to the court on their whereabouts by December 1. On that day the government, in the form of interior ministry director of operations, Colonel Imran Yaqoob, informed the court that ‘hectic efforts’ had been made with a barrage comprising Inter Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau, police and provincial home secretaries and quite brilliantly 20 of the disappeared 41 had successfully been located (of which 10 had been sent home), but that 21 had miraculously remained in a state of disappearance and the government and its myriad agencies could find no trace of them.
The petition was heard by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, sitting with Justices Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi and Saiyid Saeed Ashhad. Chief Justice Chaudhry was unhappy, rightly so, and rebuked the interior ministry official, telling him, “You have not done enough.” Reportedly, the official stupidly suggested that under the helpless circumstances the case be dismissed.
This, of course, infuriated our Chief Justice who asked him exactly who he thought he was to suggest such an action and that he should exercise control so as not to force the court to issue extremely strict orders. “If they are citizens of Pakistan, you are duty-bound to find out where they are and the exercise should continue till the objective is achieved — till all those missing have been traced and brought home safely.”
The next hearing was fixed for December 15, by which date the government was instructed to provide full details of the remaining 21 disappearance cases.
December 15 was a busy day for the judges of the Supreme Court. Among other matters, they heard the government petition regarding what the international media refers to as “a Taliban-style anti-vice bill” passed by the NWFP assembly. The court instructed the provincial governor not to sign the Hasba Bill. This indeed is enlightenment. The case of the desaparecidos was heard, the boys of the super agencies came up with only three names of persons located out of 21, and the case was adjourned to January 8 with instructions that the remaining 18 be located. To put it mildly, the Chief Justice was not at all happy with the result.
The 41 abductees are merely the tip of the iceberg. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (press report December 12), a total of 242 persons remain on the disappeared list, of which 170 are from the unhappy province of Balochistan now almost under siege by the army and law enforcement agencies. Neighbouring Sindh has lost 70, Punjab 42 and the NWFP 22 — this last may be highly inaccurate, the number may be much higher, as no one knows what is what in Waziristan and other border areas.
In its September 2006 report Amnesty International came down hard on Pakistan and the growing number of enforced disappearances : “The Pakistan government needs to treat this issue with the gravity and urgency it deserves — we are not talking only about the fate of hundreds of people but also the devastating effect on their families. The situation involves serious breaches of international law.” Apparently, General Musharraf dismissed the report brusquely and refused to answer questions posed by a BBC journalist.
Article 4 of the constitution provides that “to enjoy the protection of law and to be treated in accordance with law is the inalienable right of every citizen, wherever he may be, and of every other person for the time being in Pakistan.” These words are not a reality — they never have been, but they are now, in this age of enlightened moderation, truly surreal.
Irrespective of the war on terror, during which the practice of enforced disappearances has become the norm: Pakistan’s human rights record has been dismal for decades. Civil rights are violated with impunity, arbitrary arrest, detention and disappearances are quite common and torture is endemic the make to our law enforcement agencies. This, of course, applies mainly to the majority, not-so-privileged 90-plus per cent, and only in highly exceptional cases to the rich, the famous, the ‘elite’ or the VVIPs who normally remain sacrosanct in the eyes of the law no matter how horrible their crimes.
Citizens are held incommunicado in unknown places of detention, or in ‘safe houses’, they are tortured, then either released or made to disappear that is, killed. The right to habeas corpus has been systematically undermined as our law enforcement agencies, both military and civil, have joined hands and refuse to comply with court directions — or they simply lie through their paan stained teeth to our honourable judges.
The state is duty-bound, and honour-bound, to protect its citizens and to prevent and punish crimes and acts of terrorism, and to bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes and transgressions of the law. It is not supposed to discard the laws of the land in its own peculiar interests and it is not supposed to indulge in the gross violation of human rights guaranteed under its own and international law. It is not supposed to stamp its booted foot on the dignity of mankind.
e-mail: arfc@cyber.net.pk
