Enforced disappearances in Pakistan

However, the law enforcement agencies in Pakistan deny this and insist that many of the missing persons have either joined militant organisations such as the TTP in Afghanistan and other conflict zones[4] or they have fled to be an illegal immigrant in Europe and died en route.

The practice of enforced disappearance is a global problem that afflicts people in various countries and with different ethnicity, religions and political backgrounds.

[2] After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, forced disappearance in Pakistan allegedly began during the rule of military dictator General Pervez Musharraf (1999 to 2008).

[11][12] Most of the cases of forced disappearances in recent year were reported in Pakistan's Balochistan province which has been witnessing a low-level insurgency for more than a decade and a half.

[13] Reports have shown that many people have fled the province to seek asylum in other countries because of the unrest caused by separatist militants.

[26] Jan Achakzai Pakistan government official made a momentous statement, announcing that 2,200 missing people had been found in the province.

During his regular media conference, the minister announced that 2,200 of the 2,700 people who had been reported missing in Balochistan had been reunited with their families.

[28] In January 2021, the Islamabad High Court, after hearing a petition on a disappearance case from 2015, ruled that the prime minister of Pakistan and his cabinet were responsible for the state’s failure to protect its citizens “because the buck stops at the top.” The court also termed enforced disappearances as “the most heinous crime and intolerable.”[29] Pakistan has grappled with a persistent issue of enforced disappearances, which has marred its human rights reputation for a considerable period of time.

Despite assurances from successive administrations to outlaw this practice, progress in enacting relevant legislation has been sluggish, leaving individuals vulnerable to forced disappearances without any accountability for the perpetrators.

[30] Since the outset of its occupation, the Pakistani state has resorted to enforced disappearances as a means to suppress the oppressed population of Balochistan, marking a prolonged history of such occurrences.