HYDERABAD: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) co-chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt has said that enforced disappearance is a grave violation of fundamental human rights.

Missing persons should be produced in court to face trial for the offence they might have allegedly committed as holding them incommunicado at undisclosed places was an HR violation, he said.

He admitted that the number of missing persons in Sindh had now started to decline though their number had increased in recent past. No institution could be allowed to subject anyone to tyranny, he said.

Mr Butt was speaking to journalists at a tea party hosted in his honour at local press club on Wednesday.

He said that if an activist had committed a crime, he should be dealt with in accordance with the law rather than be made victim of enforced disappearance. Missing person should be produced in court to face trial for the offence they had allegedly committed as keeping them at undisclosed location was an HR violation.

He said that under no law one could be kept at an undisclosed location. When families of missing persons launched struggle, it yielded results and missing persons started being released, he said.

Mr Butt said that issues of religious minorities, women, children and missing persons were common in Pakistan. The situation was critical and called for continuing struggle.

He said that movement against generals Yahya, Zia and Musharraf was not that difficult but today it appeared difficult because today the “oppressor” remained “invisible” whereas in the past it was visible. No society could make any progress where freedom of expression and writing was curbed, he said.

He said that freedom of expression and writing was curbed and journalists faced “queries” for their work. Lack of investment in the country was also due to the fact that one particular class had a firm grip over business, he said.

Sindh was different from other provinces as jagirdari system was deeply entrenched in the province and oppressed class faced tremendous difficulties.

He said that land in Sindh had been occupied by powerful quarters and indigenous communities settled on their land for centuries had been evicted. Villages of these communities had been occupied, he claimed.

He regretted that Sindh contributed highest share to revenue but it had little impact on people who did not get jobs and remained deprived of basic amenities.

He said that cases of human rights violations should be exposed. Bonded labour was a crime today but curbing freedoms was also a big crime. Children were the worst affected class in society as they were kidnapped and subjected to criminal assault and in some cases killed.

He said that parents needed to pay serious attention to their children and listen to them patiently because 90 per cent cases related to children were result of inattention by parents.

HRCP Sindh chapter vice chairperson Qazi Khizer said that journalists were facing tremendous difficulties as they received threats on the one hand and faced serious economic issues on the other.

He said that thousands of journalists remained jobless. Only 600,000 workers were registered with EOBI Sindh and the remaining remained unregistered.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2021