Dear Friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated
information regarding the abduction and disappearance of a peace and
civil society activist, Mr. Raza Mehmood Khan. Since he was abducted
from his house by unknown persons on December 2, his whereabouts are
unknown.
Fellow peace activists blame the military establishment for his
abduction and disappearance because 2017 has seen many peace activists
disappeared and kept in military torture cells. After many months
incommunicado, some activists were released.
CASE NARRATIVE:
Raza Mahmood, peace activist and convener of Aghaz-i-Dosti, a
friendship initiative between the youth of India and Pakistan, went to
his residence after a community discussion with friends and activists
on Saturday, December 2, but was never heard of after that. His mobile
phone is switched off since then. Raza is also associated with Low-key
Lokai, another community initiative that brings people together for
dialogues and debates on issues critical to building a peaceful
society. The discussion on Saturday was held at Low-key Lokai, about
the recent sit-in staged by religious parties and the state’s
subsequent “capitulation” to it.
Hamid Nasir Mehmood, Raza’s brother, has filed an application in
Lahore’s Naseerabad Police Station, asking police to take notice of
Raza’s disappearance. “My brother’s cell phone was switched off
on December 2, after which I visited his home but he was not in his
room,” Mehmood wrote in the application.
“My brother has been abducted by an unidentified man, for unknown
reasons,” he added, requesting the Station House Officer (SHO) to
take legal action and address the family’s plight.
The police first refused to file a report of abduction. They said they
do not have Raza in their custody, and if he has been abducted by any
intelligence agency, the police cannot help. Due to pressure from
civil society, they filed a report three days later and said they
would probe into the matter.
Being a well known activist, the news of Raza’s disappearance is
making rounds on social media with many activists and human rights
groups demanding his safe release. People who know Raza said that he
was last seen in a ‘heated public debate about extremism and the
recent Faizabad sit-in in the city’. On Twitter, social media
activists have been using the hashtag #FindRaza while stoutly
denouncing Raza’s sudden disappearance. The latest missing person
case emerges just a day after the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced
Disappearances revealed before the Supreme Court that 1,498 cases of
missing persons are still pending with it.
The peace activists, civil society and human rights based bodies
accuse the military establishment for his abduction and disappearance,
as with the start of 2017, the military establishment through their
intelligence agencies have arrested 14 academics and bloggers,
disappeared them and kept them in the military’s torture cells. Four
were recovered from the pressure of international community. However,
still some are missing. Please see the following;
http://www.humanrights.asia/
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http://www.humanrights.asia/
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http://www.humanrights.asia/
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http://www.humanrights.asia/
Additional Information
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.
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.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write the letters to the following authorities calling them to
immediately recover safely Mr. Raza Mehmood Khan and conduct an
inquiry into his disappearance. Those responsible must be criminally
prosecuted. The government also must ratify the UN protocol on
enforced disappearances.
The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Working Group on
enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, calling for his intervention
into this matter.
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