NOC requirement for missing persons camps, unjust

Quetta/Lahore, 30 July. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has learnt that civil society organisations such as Voice of Baloch Missing Persons now require a no-objection certificate (NOC) to hold missing persons camps.

Restricting people’s right to protest peacefully in this manner is grossly unfair. Such requirements imply that the people who set up these camps can now be prosecuted merely for voicing their demand that missing friends and family members – as possible victims of enforced disappearance – be located. The restriction only compounds the injustice. We urge the government to remove this requirement and to focus on eliminating the problem of enforced disappearances rather than devising new methods to suppress dissent.

Dr Mehdi Hasan

Chairperson