Enforced disappearances and abductions

PAKISTAN: The failure of the judicial system — another Hindu girl was forcibly converted to Islam and her whereabouts are unknown

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a judicial officer and a member of the National Assembly from the ruling party have forced a 17-year- old Hindu girl to convert to Islam after her abduction by notorious gangsters. After her forced marriage her whereabouts are unknown. When the Hindu girl […]

SRI LANKA: Needed — A Ministry of Truth

“…..you dislike doctrines, you have a horror of systems, as for principles, you deny that there are any in political economy; therefore we shall call it your practice — your practice without theory and without principle.” Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) [Open letter to the French Parliament, originally published in 1845]   The operation in Geneva has […]

SRI LANKA: The Human rights activist for fisher folk Herman Kumara tells the story of the attempted abduction and continuing threat to his life

(Following is an English Translation of a written statement made by Herman Kumara to the police) I am Mr. Wijetunga Appuhamilage Herman Kumara of Sandalankawa, Irabadagama, (located in the Kurunegalle District). I am 48 years of age, married and a father of two children. While, I am the Chief Executive or National Coordinator of the […]

SRI LANKA: A plot to kill or otherwise harm the human rights defender Herman Kumara

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Herman Kumara, a well-respected Sri Lankan human rights defender has received a number of death threats after he helped organize fishermen in protest of rising fuel prices. Soon after, he was followed by a group of people in a white van who […]

SRI LANKA: New wave of abductions and dead bodies in Sri Lanka

In the past 5 months — October 2011 to February 2012 — there has been a disturbing rise in the number of abductions, especially in and around the capital, Colombo. Out of 29 abductions and 3 missing persons reported in media, most have not returned to their homes and families, rendering them ‘disappeared’ persons. The […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව: සාමකාමී උද්ඝෝෂකයින්ට වෙඩි තැබීම ආණ්ඩුවේ පුරුද්දද?

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි AHRC-STM-034-2012-SI පෙබරවාරි 22, 2012 ආසියානු මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමේ නිවේදනයයි සාමකාමී ලෙස උද්ඝෝෂණය කරන උද්ඝෝෂකයින්ට වෙඩි තැබීම ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලිසිය සාමාන්‍යයෙන් සිදුකරන දෙයක් බව ධීවර සහ ජලජ සම්පත් සංවර්ධන කැබිනට් අමාත්‍ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා  හලාවතදී ධීවරයෙකුට වෙඩි තබා මරාදැමීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් බී.බී. සී. සිංහල සේවයේ වාර්තාකරුවෙකු ඇසූ ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.  මෙලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පොලිසිය […]

PAKISTAN: The bodies of two more missing persons from Sindh province have been found

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the bullet riddled bodies of two missing young men from Sindh province were found on the road side. Both young men had been missing for the last six months when they were arrested by the law enforcement agencies while traveling on the Karachi […]

PAKISTAN: The courts and the government bear responsibility for extrajudicial killings in military torture cells

By Baseer Naveed The disappearances, killings in military detention centers and dumping of bullet-riddled bodies including torture marks on the bodies of the victims, by the spy agencies particularly by ISI and military intelligence are no longer a secret. This was exposed during the case of Abdul Saboor (29), which was taken in custody illegally […]

PAKISTAN: The people of Balochistan have to bury the mutilated bodies of their loved ones almost every day of the week

56 more bullet riddled bodies of disappeared persons were found in Balochistan during the last six months The disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Baloch activists continue despite claims from the government and security forces that extrajudicial killings have been stopped. The writ of the state is at its minimal and all the responsibilities of maintaining […]

BANGLADESH: HR violations are evident

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following editorial published by the Daily Star, an English-speaking national daily newspaper of Bangladesh, on 17 January 2012. The original editorial can be available for the readers at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=218604. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An Editorial from the Daily Star forwarded by the Asian Human […]

BANGLADESH: Our disappearing citizens — Government must unearth the truth

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following editorial published by the Daily Star, an English-speaking national daily newspaper of Bangladesh, on 15 January 2012. The original editorial can be available for the readers at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=218339#comments. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An Editorial from the Daily Star forwarded by the Asian […]

BANGLADESH: Authorities owe answers for ongoing abductions and secret killings

The incident of abductions of persons followed by secret killings in Bangladesh has been a matter of serious concern for everyone. People having different backgrounds, including lawyers, university students, small businessmen and pro-opposition political activists, are being abducted by plain-clothed armed men from the streets, market places and even from their respective offices or homes.  […]

SRI LANKA: The New Year Wish List- 2012

All Sri Lankans will wish that the coming year will not be like the last one and, in fact, that it be different from previous years also, years in which deep insecurity has been prevailing due to the failure of the political system, resulting in serious problems in the legal system. People reduced to powerlessness […]

PAKISTAN: A lawyer from Hindu community is missing and police refuse to register the case claiming that the abduction of Hindus is of no consequence

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding that a lawyer belonging to the Dalit caste of Hindu minority community has been missing since December 23 when he was going to attend the Sindh High Court. His car was found abandoned at a Taxi stand with all court files in it. […]

PAKISTAN: Army is silent on the disappearance of a Captain 33 years ago

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that an army officer of the rank of Captain was sent on a secret mission to Kashmir in 1979 and since then his whereabouts are unknown. The missing officer, who was identified as Mr. Ishtiaq Ali Khan Qaimkhani, told his wife before leaving that […]

SRI LANKA: The disappearances of Lalith Kumar Weeraju and Kugan Murugan

Two human rights organisations, the Sri Lanka Human Rights Centre and the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) issued a statement on December 11, 2011 expressing concern and shock regarding the disappearances of Lalith Kumar Weeraju and Kugan Murugan while they were engaged in activities in preparation of the Human Rights Day. Both of […]

PHILIPPINES: Inability to protect has created a ‘parallel system’

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today published its 25-page report containing its analyses on what it has observed as the irreparable ‘social and systemic impact’ of the ongoing violations of human rights in the […]

SRI LANKA: International human rights agencies failed to notice the collapse of the Sri Lanka’s public institutions of justice

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The international community, including leading human rights agencies and organisations, has failed to understand the depth of collapse of rule of law in Sri Lanka and have failed to make any effective intervention in this […]

BURMA: Abuses remain “systemic, entrenched”, AHRC warns

(Hong Kong, December 9, 2011) Despite signs of political change and the easing of restrictions on freedom of expression in Burma, rights abuses remain “systemic, deeply entrenched and vast in scale”, the Asian Human Rights Commission said today in its annual State of Human Rights in Asia report.   The 17-page Burma report, entitled “From blinkered […]

INDIA: Human rights a utopia without justice

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The state of human rights in a country is directly proportional to the extent of justice achieved in that jurisdiction. Justice is not a physically quantifiable concept. It is “truth in action” as held by […]