International Day of the Disappeared: Alarm over missing South Asians by anti-terror home visitationra squads

What a day to commemmorate. Only just found out there is such a thing as the
United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Big
Brother-send-a-chill-down-your-spine-kind-of-name for an organization. What
planet are we on? What century is this?

Peaz


"People should be arrested and detained according to the law, not forced
into a van in the middle of the night
Catherin Baber,
Amnesty International"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5298830.stm

Alarm over missing South Asians
The international "war on terror" has led to new patterns of disappearances
in South Asia, human rights group Amnesty International says.
Hundreds of suspects had been removed without explanation in Pakistan, the
group said in a report on Wednesday.

Fears were also voiced over Sri Lanka and Nepal, echoed by the UN, where
civil wars have taken their toll.

The Amnesty report and the UN appeal were timed to coincide with the
International Day of the Disappeared.

"South Asia has a history of enforced disappearances, with tens of thousands
going missing over the past decade in countries such as Sri Lanka and
Nepal," says Catherine Baber of Amnesty International.

"It is very disappointing to see countries such as Pakistan join in a trend
that one hoped would be declining."

'A challenge'

In Pakistan, the human rights group says many of those who disappeared have
eventually been acknowledged as being held in Guantanamo Bay.

But the report, released on Wednesday, adds: "Others are believed still to
be held in Pakistani detention although their precise whereabouts remain
unknown."

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Tasnim Aslam, told the Associated
Press news agency that the authorities were responding to the threat of
terrorism.

"We have a problem of terrorism and obviously in most cases you can't wait
for something to happen," she said.

"On the basis of information or suspicions, people are detained for
investigations. When you try to balance between the need to fight and
prevent terrorism and personal freedoms there is a challenge there for
everybody, not only Pakistan."

Ms Aslam said she was unaware of individual cases of people disappearing but
would study the Amnesty report for any cited cases to be followed up.

Impact on families

In Sri Lanka, the report says, there is a new pattern of state agents
seizing opponents, after new emergency regulations gave security forces
sweeping powers a year ago.

Over the past year, 62 cases of enforced disappearances have been registered
in the north of the country alone by the Human Rights Commission of Sri
Lanka.

The commission is investigating another 183 disappearances, says the report.

"Relatives are left to agonise over the fate of their loved ones in the face
of official denials and contradictions," the report says.

The report also expresses concern over people missing in Nepal and in
Indian-administered Kashmir.

In Nepal, it says a government committee announced in July that it was
investigating more than 600 cases of enforced disappearances, but local
activists say more than 1,000 individuals remain unaccounted for.

The United Nations added its voice on Nepal, urging political players to
establish accountability for the fate of hundreds who disappeared in the
course of the decade-long conflict there.

In Jammu and Kashmir, an estimated 8,000-10,000 enforced disappearances have
been reported since 1989.

Amnesty's report says "while fewer new cases are reported now, there is
still no information about past cases".


.

Quantcast