ISLAMABAD: Leading human rights and civil society organisations in a joint press conference on Saturday condemned government’s failure to put an end to the practice of enforced disappearances, calling it a deeply entrenched tool of repression that continues to devastate many families.
The groups, including Amnesty International, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Defence of Human Rights (DHR), voiced collective alarm over what they described as a systemic failure to deliver justice, truth or reparations to victims and their families.
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“A flawed system of accountability and official data from the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIOED) reveals the scale of the problem but also the system’s failure to provide meaningful justice,” chairperson of Defence of Human Rights (DHR) Amna Masood Janjua said.
Ms Janjua noted that state institutions have practised enforced disappearances with utmost impunity for over two decades.
HRCP, seven other groups seek justice, legal reforms on International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances
Other groups involved in the conference were the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh (VMPS), Sindhian National Congress, and the Asian Federation Against Involuntary and Enforced Disappearances (AFAD).
Speakers highlighted that since 2010, the commission has documented 10,592 cases, including over 3,000 submitted by the DHR. They added that 140 new cases were reported this year alone.
The DHR chairperson said the commission has never ordered a prosecution against a single perpetrator, reinforcing a culture of impunity.
“In a handful of cases where this Commission has issued production orders, it failed miserably to get them complied,” Ms Janjua said.
“Our demands, ironically the same for the last 20 years, are to immediately disclose the whereabouts of all forcibly disappeared individuals and hold perpetrators accountable through independent, impartial investigations and fair trials,” she added.
The speakers, including rights activists Afrasiyab Khan Khattak and Tahira Abdullah, also noted that a recent amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Act that allows security forces to detain individuals for up to three months is evidence that the tightening of the noose around citizens’ necks was on the rise.
Truth, Reconciliation Commission
Ms Abdullah called it “deplorable” that while the National Judicial Policy Making Committee has announced a committee to address the issue of enforced disappearances, results are still awaited.
She called for either reforming the COIOED or establishing a new, victim-centred “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” with representation from the families of the disappeared.
Later, the groups released a joint statement highlighting that authorities intentionally use disappearances as a tool to suppress political activists, ethnic minorities, journalists, and human rights defenders.
The BYC reported 546 cases this year, the PTM recorded 133, and the Voice for Missing Persons of Sindh noted 40, with more than 1,300 people still missing.
The statement criticised authorities for their continued reliance on laws that enable arbitrary detentions, such as the Army Act, the Official Secrets Act, and the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation of 2011.
These laws, it said, limit judicial oversight and allow for prolonged incommunicado detentions under the pretext of national security.
The organisations said Pakistan is obligated to protect against arbitrary detention and torture. They demanded that the county must ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2025
