Aqeel: Cases of enforced disappearance are on the increase in Pakistan

Minha Abdul Raouf: The Human Rights Council must establish an investigation committee to uncover the fate of the forcibly disappeared

In an intervention before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, and within the activities of the 42nd session held this September, the Foundation reviewed Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights (Egypt)The human rights situation in Pakistan, which is still witnessing an unfortunate outbreak of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, especially in light of the lack of political will to stop these practices, and its continuous inability to prevent these crimes.

Ayman Aqil, head of Maat Foundation, said that despite the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's approval on the first of January of this year on a bill to criminalize enforced disappearance, the cases of kidnapping, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances have increased during the recent period, which affected civilians from the Baloch minority, As 371 cases of enforced disappearance were recorded during the first half of this year, most of them were carried out by the Pakistani army.

For her part, Menna Allah Abdul Raouf, Director of the International Mechanisms Unit at Maat Foundation, called on the Pakistani authorities to quickly reveal the fate and whereabouts of the forcibly disappeared, and to establish an independent commission to investigate all cases of enforced disappearance and confessions extracted under torture and other violations related to the denial of the most basic legal rights of those arrested. They are legally entitled, beginning with their detention in a known location and allowing them to communicate with their families and their lawyers, to their right to trials that are characterized by minimal integrity, independence and justice. The perpetrators of these violations are held accountable.