Press release
HRCP has reservations about enforced disappearances bill
Lahore, 24 October 2022. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expresses reservations concerning the recently passed Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2022. While the amendment acknowledges the crime of enforced disappearance and defines this as the ‘unlawful or illegal deprivation of liberty by an agent of the state’, it does not address the need for a new legal architecture extending civilian oversight to these very agents. Such a provision is central to any effective legislation to curb enforced disappearances, given the thousands of allegations and testimonies that hold state agencies responsible for this practice.
Legislation to determine the mandate of state agencies such as the ISI is also necessary, given that it has claimed in front of the superior courts to have had ‘lawful’ authority to arrest persons accused of ‘anti-state activities.’ Additionally, the bill does not address the question of reparations to victims and their families nor does it address the accountability of perpetrators.
Enforced disappearances must be treated as a separate, autonomous crime. Any legislation to curb this practice must provide guarantees that anyone deprived of their liberty is kept in a fully authorised place of detention and victims, their families and witnesses provided protection in case of reprisals. Pakistan must also sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
HRCP also believes that laws allowing the military to investigate and try civilians should be amended. It is no mere coincidence that human rights defender Idris Khattak—who was disappeared for eight months and then acknowledged by security agencies to be in their custody—was convicted under the Army Act 1952.
Hina Jilani
Chairperson