Jahangir Jameel
The forced disappearance of a person is a breach of law, a demonic act, and is in no way justifiable.
It is unacceptable to the mind to abduct a person and leave the family in the dark for weeks, months and even years in some cases. A person suspected of being involved in any illicit act has to be produced before a court of law and be punished by a judge if found guilty after a fair trial. That is what the law says.
Being a common citizen, I can in various ways prove the forcible disappearance of a person to be wrong and put forward several valid reasons for such acts to be standing against the constitutional rights of a citizen. Unfortunately, here in Pakistan, these practices are too common, usual and forcefully hidden, whereas, the judges in the country keep mum over such issues. This raises many questions over the independence of the judiciary when a judge having the authority of taking, suo moto, is helpless in front of powerful circles of the country.
A person who speaks up against such a system is somehow pushed to stop by his acquaintances because of the fear that he/she might become the next victim of forcible disappearance. Is this what the constitution owes to the citizens for the right to free speech?
Why isn’t there anybody to listen to the people screaming on the roads for their disappeared loved ones? Why isn’t there anybody to answer for such ruthlessness?
The family members of such disappeared people have demanded through demonstrations, rallies and press conferences for their loved ones to be presented before the court if they are suspected of committing any crime but their plight has not been unanswered. Such cases are thousands in number in the country. The disappeared people include people from almost all walks of life whether they be professional people, intellectuals or students.
Not long ago a student named Hafeez Baloch was forcefully disappeared from his hometown in Khuzdar, Balochistan while he was teaching his students in an academy. He is an M. Phil student at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) in Islamabad. He had gone to his hometown on holiday and was forcibly disappeared by armed men. His family was traumatized following this incident. Fews days ago, the news of Hafeez Baloch’s whereabouts was in the news but he wasn’t let go home. Several fake cases were filed against him, consequently, he remains imprisoned. Is this justifiable or is this in any way lawful that a student is treated in this manner? Referring to this incident, Baloch students of QAU, among whom Shirin Mazari’s daughter was also protesting in the capital city of Pakistan, were baton-charged by Islamabad’s police which is condemnable. It is peculiar to see such incidence happening unabated in the 21st-century world, where the west is looking for life on Mars while on the other hand, we continue to live in an age of barbarism where the life of a person has become worthless.
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