AUG 31, 22

IKRAM JUNAIDI

OVERVIEW
The article discusses the failure of
implementation of laws against enforced
disappearances in Pakistan.
 WHAT ARE ENFORCED
DISAPPEARANCES?

Enforced disappearance is the secret abduction or

imprisonment of a person by a state or political
organization, or by a third party with the authorization or
support of a state or political organization, followed by a
refusal to acknowledge the person's fate and
whereabouts, with the intent of placing the victim outside
the protection of the law.
STATISTICS
JAN 2019
48 closed cases
29 returned home
10 in detention camps
5 in jails
2 not traced
2 declared dead
HOW THE FAMILIES
SUFFER:

Emotional
distress
Uncertainty
Loss of bread
winner of the
family

The illustration above shows how the victims of enforced

disappearances suffer.
 ABSTRACT
On 30th August 2022, the International
Day of Enforced Disappearances was
observed. As per international law
enforced disappearances are illegal and
victims hold the right to fight against
them and the relatives of disappeared
people hold the right to know the fate
of the victims. Former PPP Senator,
Farhat Ullah Babar, proposed that the
intelligence apparatus in Pakistan
should be brought under strict
obedience of the law. In case of arrest
victims must be kept at an authorized
place of detention.
 Personal Analysis
We as a country are stuck in a vicious
cycle of a weak democracy, where the
voice of citizens is silenced. The military The illustration below shows that the victims of such crimes
are deprived of freedom of speech.
and civil bureaucracy are not under the
ambit of law which puts them in a
dominant position to rule over the
citizens by violating their rights. The
constitutional structure of Pakistan needs
amendments to put more powers in
hands of the citizens not just on paper but
in practice too.