PAKISTAN: Call for safe recovery of four bloggers who disappeared after being arrested

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the alleged enforced disappearance, in the first week of January, of four human rights defenders from different cities. There are two bloggers, a writer and a professor. All four were pro-active on social media against state atrocities on the issues of disappearances and human rights violations in Balochistan. The State, being an extremely volatile place for journalists, has now extended its influence over digital space – the last avenue of free speech.

The state action against the bloggers sent a strong message to bloggers and activists for raising the issues related with the freedom of expression.

In the abduction of Mr. Salman Haider, a University professor, people observed a man in an army uniform manhandling him and dragging him in to a van. The bystanders who tried to save the activist from abduction were baton-charged by persons in plain clothes.

One Netherlands-based Pakistani, Waqas Goraya, also disappeared after being arrested in his home.

The federal Interior Minister promised to locate the university professor but five days after his statement the professor was still not found.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Pakistan started 2017 off with a crack-down on human rights defenders and bloggers. They raised their voices on disappearances and extra-judicial killings in general and on Balochistan in particular. It is said that the security establishment is very sensitive on the issue of construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which starts from Gwadar port, Balochistan.

On January 6, Mr. Salman Haider, a professor from Fatima Jinnah University and prominent writer, went missing after his arrest in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. He was abducted while returning from Bani Gala to Islamabad with a group of friends. When their car reached Koral intersection in Islamabad it was stopped by a Toyota Hilux Truck. Salman resisted with guns pointed at him. There was a struggle in which Salman’s friends were severely beaten.

Nearby auto repair shop workers tried to help Salman; they were severely beaten as well. One of the eyewitnesses has confidentially confirmed that at least one of the abductors was wearing an Army uniform, according to the https://lubpak.com/archives/351892

According to the AFP and other media reports, at least four human rights activists known on social media for their leftist views have gone missing this week. Relatives and NGO workers told AFP this on Sunday, as analysts voiced concerns about human rights violations. 

Two of the men — Waqas Goraya and Asim Saeed — disappeared from Lahore, on January 4, according to a cybersecurity NGO, while Salman Haider vanished on Fridayand Ahmed Raza Naseer on January 5, relatives said.

The Interior Ministry has said it will investigate the disappearance of Haider, who is known for his outspoken views on enforced disappearances in Balochistan, but made no reference to the others. All four were active in social media groups.

Know more: Missing persons

Pakistan is routinely ranked among the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists. Reporting anything critical about the military is like raising a red flag, with journalists being detained, beaten and even killed. 

Naseer, who suffers from polio, was taken from his family’s shop in central Punjab province. His brother Tahir told AFP. 
Hours after Haider was due home on Friday evening, his wife received a text message from his phone saying he was leaving his car on the Islamabad expressway. This was reported by his brother Faizan. 

Also read: 728 added to list of missing persons in 2016

Waqas Goraya, who is usually a resident of the Netherlands, was picked up on January 4, as was Aasim Saeed, said Shahzad Ahmed, head of cyber security NGO Bytes for All. 

“None of these activists have been brought before any court of law or levelled with any charges. Their disappearance status is very worrying not only for their families, but also for citizens and the larger social media users in the country,” Ahmad said.

In 2014, when sectarian killings were rife, Salman Haider had penned a poem titled ‘Kafir’, which quickly went viral on social media. The poem critiqued the intolerance prevailing in the country and quickly garnered critical acclaim.
Haider is a lecturer at Fatima Jinnah Women’s University (FJWU) in Rawalpindi. He is also an actor, writer and a human rights activist. Police said that investigators have started examining his social media accounts and e-mail address, as well as combing his mobile phone records.

A case has been registered under Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with “kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person”, at the Loi Bher police station, Islamabad.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The Daily Dawn published a report in January 2017 on the issue of missing persons during the year 2016, according to which; another 728 Pakistanis were added to the list of missing persons in 2016 – the highest in at least six years – taking the total to 1,219, according to the Inquiry Commission on Enforced Disappearances. Also known as the missing persons’ commission, it disposed of 899 cases last year. 

In 2015, 649 cases of missing persons were registered with the commission, which disposed of 524 of them. 
According to statistics available with Dawn, the highest number of missing person cases was registered with the commission in 2016. 

In January 2016, 56 cases were reported to the commission, in February 66, in March 44, April 99, May 91, June 60, July 94, August 55, September 34, October 36, November 45 and 48 in December. 

According to the report, during the last six years the commission received 3,740 complaints from different parts of the country out of which 2,521 were decided upon, until December 3, 2016. The commission held 398 proceedings, including 212 in Islamabad and 186 in Karachi. 

The report claimed that since 2011 the commission traced 1,882 missing persons while 338 cases were disposed of. 
From 2011 to 2016, cases of 121 missing persons were reported from the Islamabad capital territory (ICT), 752 from Punjab, 1,010 from Sindh, 1,425 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 276 from Balochistan, 112 from Fata, 40 from Azad Kashmir and four from Gilgit-Baltistan. 

On the other hand, 44 missing people belonging to the capital territory were traced during the year along with 374 from Punjab, 692 from Sindh, 617 from KP, 101 from Balochistan, 42 from Fata and 40 from AJK. 
Besides, 296 cases were deleted from the list as they disappeared on their own or were kidnapped for ransom. 
Sources said the commission disposed of cases of those people whose bodies were recovered or the missing persons were detained in jail or internment centers. 

Amna Masood Janjua, the chairperson Defence of Human Rights (DHR), termed the statistics disappointing. 
She said, in a majority of the traced cases, the relatives could acquire the bodies of the missing persons or they were informed that their relatives were detained at some internment center. 

“It is very difficult to meet a detained person at an internment centre.” 

She said the family members have to obtain approval from five different departments after which they are allowed to meet the detained person for not more than 15 minutes after an interval of one month. 

The DHR had suggested reforms to expedite the proceedings on the missing persons’ cases which included the establishment of commissions at the provincial level. “But the quarters concerned did not give any weight to our proposal,” she said. 

When contacted, Fareed Ahmed Khan, the secretary to the commission, insisted that the performance of the commission was encouraging as 899 cases were disposed of last year. 

“Since we receive a large number of cases every month and are already burdened, we cannot provide instant relief to the complainants as we need to collect information from different quarters.” He said due to pending cases some of the complainants expressed dissatisfaction with the system.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the following authorities calling them to immediately recover the missing persons; Salman Haider, Waqas Goraya, Asim Saeed and Ahmed Raza Naseer, who disappeared after being arrested. If there are cases against them the government must charge and try them before the courts. The government must stop abducting activists and assure their safe recovery. They make them disappear to punish social media and limit freedom of expression.

“The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (UN WGEID), calling for his intervention into this matter”.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER