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Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari on Monday said that Pakistan was “moving forward” in its commitment to criminalise enforced disappearances, and emphasised that such acts were “unacceptable in a democracy”.
On the International Day of the Disappeared, which is being celebrated across the world today, Mazari said the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Interior approved a bill on enforced disappearances last week.
“Sadly, time [was] lost because no previous government moved on enforced disappearances,” she regretted. The minister said the bill sailed through the NA body after consultations with all stakeholders.
“In our first meeting at the Ministry of Human Rights, we had the then PPP chair of the Senate human rights committee participate. Once introduced in NA it was available on NA website so to say no one knew the content is absurd. No one objected on the floor of the NA or in the committee,” she said.
She also said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had met Baloch families of “disappeared” persons who provided details about their missing family members. “Some have returned home while others are being traced,” the minister said.
Mazari said the premier also met the chairperson of the Defence of Human Rights in Pakistan, Amina Janjua, to discuss the matter.
The minister also hit out at former governments for their lack of response on the issue. “[I] can’t recall any PML-N or PPP prime minister in the last two governments even recognising enforced disappearances, let alone meeting with these families.”
In June, the PPP said the bill introduced by the government in the National Assembly to curb the practice of enforced disappearances would not end the menace as it required further deliberation and amendment.
PPP’s Farhatullah Babar was of the view that enforced disappearances must be treated as a separate autonomous crime and that a separate legal mechanism was needed for taking up complaints, holding perpetrators accountable and for providing compensation to the aggrieved families.
“The amendment bill does not meet these requirements,” he had said.
The PPP secretary general had also cautioned against rushing through the bill and called for inviting all stakeholders to the relevant standing committee of the National Assembly or holding of public hearings.
On January 19, the Islamabad High Court observed that the prime minister and his cabinet were responsible for ‘enforced disappearances’ in the federal capital, and sought a list of prime ministers who held the office since 2015.