{"id":10351,"date":"2008-08-08T14:54:18","date_gmt":"2008-08-08T14:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2008\/08\/08\/the-lost-boys\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T17:20:20","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T17:20:20","slug":"the-lost-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2008\/08\/08\/the-lost-boys\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lost Boys"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Calls for the release Pakistan’s missing prisoners<\/h3>\n
\"\"AMINA Janjua hasn\u2019t seen her husband for three years.<\/strong> <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In July 2005 Masood Janjua, 45, a businessman from Rawalpindi, and his friend Faisal Faraz, 25, an engineer from Lahore were travelling on bus when they were apprehended by Pakistani security forces. The government has denied holding them \u2013 but Amina has spent the last three years proving them wrong.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Masood and Faisal are just two in a number of unaccounted men across Pakistan. They have become the \u201cdisappeared\u201d men in Pakistan\u2019s \u2018war on terror\u2019 \u2013 held without trial and whose existence is being continually denied by Pakistan authorities.\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Last month Amnesty International called on the new government of Pakistan to either release these men or transfer them to official places of detention.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Publishing a new 50-page report outlining the cases of numerous people subjected to enforced disappearance – in one case a man has been held for nearly seven years, in another a nine-year-old boy was held – Amnesty also called for Pakistan\u2019s judges to be reinstated. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In a major national crisis in November 2007, most of Pakistan\u2019s key judges were removed from office, including several who had pressured the government and intelligence agencies to reveal the fate of Pakistan\u2019s \u201cdisappeared\u201d.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Amnesty\u2019s report uses information from court proceedings and affidavits of victims and witnesses of enforced disappearance to reveal a pattern of security or other forces arbitrarily detaining people, blindfolding them, and moving them around numerous detention centres so they become almost impossible to trace. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s government, the report says, has been \u201cdenying the undeniable\u201d on this issue. Last year President Musharraf dismissed as \u201cnonsense\u201d claims that prisoners are held by security forces, saying that 700 were originally held but later released and that missing people \u201care in the control of militant organisations\u201d or \u201cjihadi groups\u201d.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

However, Amnesty\u2019s report backs relatives groups\u2019 claims that at least 563 people remain unaccounted and with a new government in office Amnesty is calling for fresh action on the issue.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Amnesty International Asia Pacific Director Sam Zarifi said:<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cPrime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has emphasised the coalition government\u2019s commitment to upholding human rights. We urge him to act immediately to resolve all cases of enforced disappearance.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know if those subjected to enforced disappearances are guilty or innocent, but it is their fundamental right to be charged and tried properly in a court of law.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a first immediate measure, the new government should ease the suffering of the relatives of the \u2018disappeared\u2019 by either releasing the detainees or transferring them to official places of detention.\u201d <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

For Amina Janjua the fight goes on. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

While security forces have denied holding her husband, Amina has presented the Supreme Court with an affidavit from five people declaring that her husband has in fact been held at various places of detention – including an army building called \u201c501 Workshop\u201d in Rawalpindi – by the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

One of those who has stated seeing Janjua in ISI custody is Dr Imran Munir, himself held by the same intelligence agency and allegedly ill-treated and threatened with being handed over to \u201cUS custody at Guant\u00e1namo Bay.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Dr Munir\u2019s case has been one of those at the centre of the legal and political battle between Pakistan\u2019s Supreme Court judges and the government. In court proceedings in autumn 2007, Pakistan\u2019s Chief Justice repeatedly demanded information about his case and Masood Janjua is calling on the government to \u201cregularise the custody of the missing persons\u201d and threatening legal action against the heads of the security and intelligence services.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Judicial efforts to bring Munir and Janjua out of enforced disappearance were however cut short by the removal of judges in late 2007 and Munir, a Malaysian citizen of Pakistani origin, has reportedly been sentenced to eight years\u2019 imprisonment for \u201cspying\u201d.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In a hand-written note made available to Amnesty, Munir has described being held by the ISI in solitary confinement cells, of being deprived of sleep, being fed food with a \u201ctremendous amount of red chillis\u201d until his stomach bled, and being made to \u201cstand almost 15 hours a day in chains on both hands and both feet\u201d. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Amnesty understands that Dr Munir, whose health has deteriorated, is presently confined to a hospital.<\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Calls for the release Pakistan’s missing prisoners AMINA Janjua hasn\u2019t seen her husband for three years. In July 2005 Masood Janjua, 45, a businessman from Rawalpindi, and his friend Faisal Faraz, 25, an engineer from Lahore were travelling on bus when they were apprehended by Pakistani security forces. The government has denied holding them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}