ISLAMABAD: Former senator of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the senior lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan urged the Supreme Court to declare that enforced disappearances are violative of constitutional provisions.
The senior lawyer on Wednesday through advocate Sardar Latif Khosa filed a petition under Article 184(3) of the constitution to “challenge the illegal and unlawful practice of enforced disappearances”, and cited the Federation, inspector generals of police (IGPs) of all the four provinces, and Islamabad, and Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CIED) as respondents.
Aitzaz contended that “recently, there has been a surge of enforced disappearances, and re-appearances of citizens. Such victims include journalists, politicians, bureaucrats and other dissenting voices.”
The petition argued that the “crime against humanity of enforced disappearances is clearly violative of the Constitution. Therefore, this Court can also apply the principles enshrined in the 2006 Convention in order to achieve the ends of justice.”
It further contended that such disappearances violate one’s fundamental rights, as well as, Pakistan’s international law obligations, citing it was a party to the “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” and the “Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”.
It urged the apex court to declare that enforced disappearances are violative of, inter alia, Articles 4 (right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with law, etc), 9 (security of person), 10 (safeguards as to arrest and detention), 14 (inviolability of dignity of man, etc.), 19 (freedom of speech, etc.) and 25 (equality of citizens) of the Constitution.
The petition further requested the top court to declare that the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances “does not adequately comply with legal and international standards”. He; therefore, sought the formation of an “effective and purposeful commission” led by a Supreme Court judge, and comprising presidents of Pakistan Bar Council and the High Courts’ Bar Associations, chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and National Commission on Status of Women. The proposed commission also includes the director general (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence, additional DG Intelligence Bureau and the president of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.
The plea urged the apex court to “direct the concerned authority to ensure legal and international standards in formation of the commission, so that the amount expended out of the national exchequer for its expenses should be accounted for”. It further requested for directives to be issued to the federal government and the provincial governments to submit a list of all disappeared persons in state custody to the court.
The petition also sought directives to the same parties to “prepare and submit a report probing and identifying the law enforcement and other officers responsible for the practice of enforced disappearances” in the Supreme Court within four weeks.
It also asked the court to “issue a writ of habeas corpus for the release of all disappeared persons in the custody of the State, and, order that all such disappeared persons be produced within four weeks” before a high court of competent jurisdiction.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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