(Hong Kong, November 21, 2007) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges upon the government of Pakistan to disclose the names of judges, lawyers, journalists, human rights activists and political workers that are continuing to be detained under the emergency rule.
On Tuesday, the government announced they have already released thousands of lawyers, activists and other persons from detention. However, they have provided no further information regarding the names of those who remain in jail or details on the conditions in which they are held.
The AHRC is concerned that unless these detainees are fully accounted for, they will continue to face great risk of torture and maltreatment. Amongst other things, ailing detainees are denied access to regular medication. The lack of information aggravates the suffering of the detainees families who are facing the dilemma of how to confront the conditions following the arrests.
The Pakistani government, as member state of the UN, is obliged under international laws to observe minimum standards for treatment of prisoners.
The names of the detainees and the places where they have been detained, which are minimum requirements in the UNs Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, have not been readily available to detainees families. Of the 3,500 lawyers reported to have been arrested and detained only around 500 judges and lawyers were identified.
“Without the names of detainees and place of detention, they would be at the mercy of the security forces taking them into custody. They could torture, kill, make them disappear and nobody would know,” said Baseer Naveed, senior researcher for South Asia desk.
On Tuesday, the AHRC distributed a list containing the names of detainees. The list, however, is a fraction of those who were detained and remain unaccounted for. A number of persons have been arrested whose whereabouts remain unknown.
The list can be accessed at: http://pakistan.ahrchk.net/pdf/AHRC-PL-051-2007.pdf
Since the emergency rule took effect, identifying and locating detainees to ascertain their condition has been extremely difficult, particularly for families and relatives. Even of those detainees whose places of detention have been located, their relatives and families have routinely been denied access to visit them.
The new ordinances which impose restrictions on the media severely restrict the flow and quantity of information that can be gathered from inside the country.
The AHRC once again calls upon concerned individuals to share the names of persons whom they know remain in detention, and whose whereabouts remains unknown. Please email any information regarding this: pakistan@ahrchk.net.
