LAHORE: Activists belonging to various rights groups as well
as friends and family of Raza Mahmood Khan, a rights activist who has
been missing since Dec 2,
condemned the ‘enforced disappearance’ of activists and attempts to
silence and harass those speaking up for peace and human rights.
Speaking
at a press conference on Friday, they announced that they would file a
habeas corpus petition for Raza’s recovery in the Lahore High Court on
Monday and approach the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances
as well.
They announced holding nationwide protests and
separate agitations in front of the Pakistani embassies in Washington
DC and London.
They will file habeas corpus petition in LHC on Monday
Raza was seen last leaving his office at around 8pm on Dec
2, after attending a talk on extremism, shared Raheemul Haq, a friend
and fellow activist of Raza’s. The next day, his friends called him up
several times but his phone was switched off. Panicked, they visited his
single-room apartment and found it locked from the outside, but the
lights inside were switched on.
Raheem explained that this was uncharacteristic of
Raza, who never left his house without turning the lights off.
Nevertheless, his friends called Raza’s family in Kasur to ask if they
knew where he was, but they had not heard from him either. They
approached the police then.
Raheem said they entered the
apartment to find all of Raza’s belongings scattered on the floor. The
police pointed out that his computer’s CPU was missing.
“We
are in a world of pain,” said Hamid Nasir, Raza’s younger brother, who
filed an application with Naseerabad police station. The FIR was
registered on Dec 5. Hamid stressed that his brother did not have any
enemies. Raheem added that Raza was involved in several community
initiatives around art, peaceful coexistence and urban issues.
As
the convener of Aaghaz-e-Dosti, an initiative to help students from
India and Pakistan send each other messages and paintings depicting
peace, Raza had been a staunch advocate of peace in the region. Diep
explained that the initiative – which did not receive any NGO funding –
would publish calendars carrying paintings of students.
Representing
the Women’s Action Forum, Humaira Shaikh said, “We condemn Raza’s
enforced disappearance and appeal to the government to at least inform
his family about his safety and wellbeing.”
The panel,
which included lawyers Sarah Suhail and Asad Jamal, demanded that the
state fulfil its obligations under Articles 4, 10, 24 and 25 of the
Constitution of Pakistan and protect the rights of citizens and
activists. They added that the trend of picking up activists – as many
as six activists have been picked up this year – had created a sense of
fear and aimed at silencing them. “But we will not be silenced, and we
will use every platform to agitate and raise our voice,” Sarah said.
Amnesty International demands recovery of missing social activist Raza Khan
International rights organisation Amnesty International, in a statement issued on Wednesday, has demanded that the Pakistani government immediately ensure the recovery of missing Lahore-based activist Raza Khan.
"The
Pakistani authorities must take all measures as may be necessary to
investigate Raza Khan's fate immediately," Amnesty's Deputy South Asia
Director Dinushika Dissanayake said.
"Scarcely does a
week go by without Amnesty International receiving reports of people
going missing in Pakistan," Dissanayake said. "Many of them may have
been subjected to enforced disappearances, which is a crime under
international law.
"In October, Pakistan was elected to
the UN Human Rights Council on a pledge to uphold universal human rights
for all. But we’ve seen few effective attempts to investigate these
disappearances and no one has ever been held accountable for them," he
added.
Raza had gone missing from his residence in Model Colony in Naseerabad on December 2.
A
convener of Aghaz-i-Dosti, a friendship initiative between the youth of
India and Pakistan, Raza had gone to his residence after a meeting with
friends last Saturday.
On failing to find Raza, his brother Hamid Nasir had approached the police and lodged a kidnap complaint.
The incident has caused serious concern among Raza’s family members and friends, he said.
The
complainant told the police that Raza was also associated with Lowkey
Lokai, another community initiative aimed at holding dialogues and
debates on the issues critical to building a peaceful society.
Raza had attended a meeting of the initiative on Saturday, Nasir said.
Naseerabad police have registered a case against unidentified person(s) for kidnapping Raza.
Many
prominent incidents of disappeared social activists have come to light
recently, many of them highlighted on social media. Earlier this year,
the news of five activists going missing
had elicited a strong response from activists in Pakistan and abroad.
While four of them were later returned, Syed Samar Abbas, president of
the Civil Progressive Alliance Pakistan, remains missing.
Prior
to that, Zeenat Shahzadi, a young journalist who was pursuing the case
of an Indian citizen, went missing in 2015. Driven to despair, her younger brother had committed suicide.
Although
news of her return was confirmed by the former head of the Commission
of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances justice Javed Iqbal and her
mother a few weeks ago, the whereabouts of Shahzadi and her family are not known since then.
