Bill on missing persons has gone missing: Pak human rights minister
Feb 02, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], February 2 : The federal minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said in the Senate that it seems that the bill on missing persons has been lost while emphasizing that the issue of missing persons in Pakistan is important.
She said the government prepared the bill on the missing persons, which was passed by the National Assembly and sent to the Senate.
"It is not known why the bill is not being introduced in the Senate. Chairman, I have spoken to you today as well. Why is the bill not being introduced? The issue of missing persons is intolerable in a democratic system," she said addressing the Senate chairman, The News International reported.
Responding to the minister, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani said: "It is the bill of the government and only the government can bring it, I cannot bring it. All the members should remove their misunderstanding and if the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs produces the bill, I will bring it. I can't bring the bill on my own."
Pakistan mocks the United Nations concerns over enforced disappearances, which continues to be practised with impunity in the country, according to a Canada-based think tank International Forum for Rights and Security, which says that these practices remain a taint on Islamabad's human rights record.
In November 2021, Amnesty International released a new briefing documenting the effect of such abductions on the families of those who go missing.
The briefing, titled "Living Ghosts", is based on interviews with 10 family members of persons "whose fate remains unknown after they were abducted by Pakistan's security services".
Pakistan's government and Army, however, do not appear inclined to lose their effective tool for stifling the voice of discriminated youth.
