Amnesty International

Pakistan called to end enforced disappearances

ISLAMABAD: Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on Pakistan to resolve hundreds of cases of enforced disappearances for which “no one has ever been held accountable”, reports AFP.

“Disappearances are a tool of terror... if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack, they constitute a crime against humanity,” a statement issued by the rights watchdog Monday said, calling on Pakistan to “take concrete steps to end impunity”.

Pakistan has had a history of enforced disappearances over the past decade, mainly confined in the past to conflict zones near the Afghanistan border or to southwestern Balochistan province, where separatists are battling for independence.

However in recent years a growing number of such abductions have taken place brazenly in major urban centres such as Karachi, Lahore and even the capital Islamabad.

Earlier this year award-winning Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqui, who criticised the role of the military in Pakistan, managed to escape an attempted abduction in broad daylight on a busy Islamabad highway. He has since left the country.

 

Amnesty International

Pakistan called to end enforced disappearances

ISLAMABAD: Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on Pakistan to resolve hundreds of cases of enforced disappearances for which no one has ever been held accountable, reports AFP. Disappearances are a tool of terror... if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack, they constitute a crime against humanity, a statement issued by the rights watchdog Monday said, calling on Pakistan to take concrete steps to end impunity. Pakistan has had a history of enforced disappearances over the past decade, mainly confined in the past to conflict zones near the Afghanistan border or to southwestern Balochistan province, where separatists are battling for independence. However in recent years a growing number of such abductions have taken place brazenly in major urban centres such as Karachi, Lahore and even the capital Islamabad. Earlier this year award-winning Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqui, who criticised the role of the military in Pakistan, managed to escape an attempted abduction in broad daylight on a busy Islamabad highway. He has since left the country.