In Pakistan, draft law to criminalize ‘enforced disappearances’ disappears into web of bureaucracy 

In this file photo, Pakistani human rights activists carry placards during a protest for missing persons to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances in Lahore on August 30, 2016. (File/ AFP)
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Updated 11 September 2020
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In Pakistan, draft law to criminalize ‘enforced disappearances’ disappears into web of bureaucracy 

  • Last week’s mysterious disappearance of SECP official Sajid Gondal has highlighted continuing cases of enforced disappearances and need for new legislation to curb them
  • Ministry of human rights says sent bill on enforced disappearances to law ministry in Jan 2019, draft then forwarded to interior ministry last month for additional vetting

ISLAMABAD: A draft bill to criminalize enforced disappearances, which has been with the law ministry for ‘vetting’ for over a year and a half, is now being reviewed by the interior ministry with no deadline on when it will be finalized, several officials have said, as last week’s mysterious disappearance of a government official has once more put the spotlight on cases of enforced disappearances in Pakistan.
Sajid Gondal, a joint director at the SECP, went missing on Thursday night, his family said. On Wednesday he tweeted that he was back home.

In an interview with Arab News on Tuesday, Gondal’s wife called his disappearance an “abduction” and said the family had no information about his whereabouts and had been told by police it had no leads.
“If there is any allegation or charge on him, he must be produced before the court,” Sajeela Sajid said.
Media first reported that unknown abductors had freed Gondal on the outskirts of Islamabad. On Wednesday, however, local TV channels quoted Gondal as saying he had spent the days in which he was missing in Pakistan’s picturesque northern areas, on a trip with friends.
Many journalists and rights defenders raised questions over the explanation, asking why Gondal disappeared without a word while driving home from work and left his car unattended on a roadside, the key still in the ignition. Gondal made no attempt to contact his family or friends in the days he was gone.
The Islamabad High Court has also raised questions about Gondal’s disappearance this week, saying it would summon the prime minister to provide an explanation if the government failed to safeguard citizens’ fundamental rights.
“Abduction of citizens and failure on part of law enforcing agencies to trace their whereabouts and prosecute and punish the perpetrators of this most heinous crime appears to have become a norm,” the court said. “There is no accountability. The protectors of fundamental rights have become silent spectators to this most abhorrent violation of fundamental rights.”
Investigation officer Malik Naeem appeared before the court and said he was investigating 50 cases of missing persons in Islamabad alone.
A federal Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances set up by the government in 2011 listed 6,506 such cases nationwide by the end of 2019. And despite the pledges of successive Pakistani governments to criminalize the practice, there has been slow movement on legislation and people continue to be forcibly disappeared.
“Ministry of Human Rights bill aimed to criminalize enforced disappearance as a separate, autonomous offense through amendments in PPC [Pakistan Penal Code] and CrPC [Code of Criminal Procedure],” Rabiya Javeri Agha, secretary at the human rights ministry, told Arab News.
When asked about the status of the bill, she said it was with the ministry of law for “vetting.” The ministry of law confirmed it had received the bill in January 2019.
The bill sat at the law ministry until last month, when around four weeks ago it was passed on to the interior ministry for another review, said Lalarukh Waheed, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, adding that the bill was now at the interior secretary’s office for review.
Despite repeated calls and text messages, officials at the law and interior ministries did not disclose details of current discussions around the bill or why there was a delay in processing it.
Human rights minister Shireen Mazari also declined repeated requests for an interview for this piece.
“SPECIFIC LAW IS REQUIRED”
Ali Nawaz Chowhan, chairman of the government’s National Commission for Human Rights, said delays in introducing a new law to curb continuing enforced disappearances had put the credibility of the government at stake.
“A specific law is required to declare the enforced disappearances illegal and collect the required evidence to produce and retrieve a missing person,” he told Arab News. “The enforced disappearances have tarnished our international image … and this will continue till we put an end to the menace.”
Families of disappeared persons currently have two legal remedies, barrister Omer Malik said: They can file a petition of habeas corpus with a session or high court, which would require a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, or register an abduction case with the police.
“These laws are effective to recover a missing or abducted person from the custody of civilians,” Malik said. “In the case of state agencies, they simply deny having custody of a person, and then police or judiciary have no specific powers to locate a person in their custody and get them retrieved.”
Pakistan’s secret services are often blamed for enforced disappearances, though they vociferously deny the allegations.
Last year, the military said it had set up a special cell on missing persons at its headquarters in Rawalpindi. The army also issued a statement sympathizing with families of missing people, while saying that some may have joined militant groups and “not every person missing is attributable to the state.”
Meanwhile, journalists and rights defenders remain under threat.
In July, journalist Matiullah Jan, a well-known critic of the Pakistani security establishment, government and judiciary, was abducted by plainclothes abductors and gunmen in state security uniforms from outside the school where his wife is employed. He was returned in 24 hours.
In November last year, human rights defender and former Amnesty International consultant Idris Khattak, who has spent a lifetime working on enforced disappearances, was taken in broad daylight from his car in northern Pakistan.
Over half a year after he was last heard from, military intelligence finally admitted on the record that Khattak was in custody and would be charged under the 1923 Official Secrets Act, which carries a punishment of 14 years in prison, or death. Authorities have not provided specific details of the activities for which he has been charged.
In January this year, the defense ministry accepted before the Lahore High Court that lawyer Inamur Rahim was in custody and being tried under the Official Secrets Act. Rahim has filed numerous petitions against the practice of missing persons and was abducted from his home in December 2019.
In December 2010, in a landmark court session, the Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence agencies confessed before the Supreme Court that 11 missing inmates of the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi were in their custody and being tried under the Army Act. The 11 men were also produced before the court by military officials.
FAMILIES AWAIT ANSWERS
In the provincial capital of Balochistan, a southwestern province racked by insurgency, a daily sit-in against enforced disappearances began on June 28, 2009 and continues to date.
Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun community, 30 million strong, has been leading peaceful protests across the country for over two years, seeking details on hundreds of their young men who they say have “disappeared”.
Talia Khattak, the 20-year-old daughter of Idris Khattak, who is also Pashtun, said she was “emotionally broken” worrying about the whereabouts and health of her father, who is a diabetes patient and requires daily medication.
Khattak has a long career working on the documentation of human rights abuses and enforced disappearances in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Though authorities have finally admitted Khattak is in their custody, his daughter said the family had still not been allowed to see him.
“I am living a life of hopelessness,” she said. “I don’t know if my father is alive and will he ever return home.”
Khattak’s lawyer said the Peshawar High Court was expected to take up the case in the second week of September.
“Under the law, any security agency is bound to produce an accused before the court within 24 hours,” Latif Afridi told Arab News. “There is no lacunae in the laws [regarding enforced disappearances], but the real challenge is their implementation.”
Outside the court this week, the mother of SECP official Gondal sat on a footpath and said she only had God to turn to.
“How will they face God?” she said, referring to her son’s abductors and crying in a video that has gone viral on social media. “Don’t they know one day they will be facing their Lord? The highest court is God’s court. I seek justice from my Lord. God ask them, God should punish them.”


Pakistan says 700 army personnel killed in militant attacks in last 2 years

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Pakistan says 700 army personnel killed in militant attacks in last 2 years

  • Pakistan has suffered a surge in militant attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces recently
  • Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif blames New Delhi for supporting militant outfits in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Around 700 army personnel have been killed in various militant attacks over the past two years, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Saturday, accusing India of supporting terror outfits in the country. 

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since November 2022 in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and southwestern Balochistan provinces bordering Iran and Afghanistan. In KP, the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outfit has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against law enforcers. 

In Balochistan, separatist ethnic Baloch militant groups demand independence from the state, accusing Islamabad of denying locals a share in the province’s mineral resources. Islamabad denies the allegations.

“In the past two years, 700 of our soldiers have been martyred,” Asif told lawmakers during a televised parliamentary session. “Our civilians have been martyred. Several districts of a province of ours are being targeted by terrorism.”

The minister said that militant outfits such as the TTP or the separatist Baloch Liberation Army are “agents of India,” alleging that they were fighting New Delhi’s war on Pakistani soil. 

“Any person who even has a speck of sympathy toward them is not a Pakistani,” Asif said, vowing that Islamabad would win its war against militancy. 

India and Pakistan have traded allegations of supporting militant groups for years. New Delhi blames Islamabad for supporting militant outfits who carry out attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir, an allegation that Pakistan has always rejected. 

The two countries engaged in a military confrontation for days last month after India attacked Pakistan with missiles, accusing it of supporting an April 22 attack in the Pahalgam tourist resort in Indian-administered Kashmir. 

Pakistan denied the allegations and called for an international, credible probe into the incident. 

The defense minister expressed solidarity with Iran over Israel’s recent attacks against it, vowing to extend support to the neighboring country.

“In this hour of trial, we are with them in every way,” Asif said. “Whatever help they need at the international level, at the United Nations or any other institution or at the Islamic conference, we will defend their interests there.”
 


Pakistan calls for enhancing aid, educational assistance for Palestinians

Updated 14 June 2025
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Pakistan calls for enhancing aid, educational assistance for Palestinians

  • Pakistan’s foreign minister chairs meeting to review status of ongoing assistance for Palestinians
  • Palestinian death toll from 20-month Israel-Hamas war has passed 55,000, official figures say

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday stressed the need to enhance humanitarian relief and educational assistance for Palestinians bearing the brunt of Israel’s military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.

The Palestinian death toll from the 20-month Israel-Hamas war has passed 55,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said this week. Israeli forces have destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced about 90 percent of its population and in recent weeks have transformed more than half of the coastal territory into a military buffer zone that includes the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah.

Pakistan has dispatched several aid consignments for the people of Palestine since last year and also granted scholarships and admissions to hundreds of Palestinian students in Pakistani universities since the war began in 2023.

“Reaffirming Pakistan’s unwavering moral, political, and diplomatic support for the Palestinian cause, the DPM/FM emphasized the need to enhance the provision of humanitarian relief to the Palestinian people as well as to extend educational assistance to the Palestinian students,” the foreign office said.

The statement was issued after Dar chaired a meeting to review the status of the ongoing assistance provided by Pakistan to the people of Palestine.

“The DPM/FM expressed deep concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza & West Bank, resulting from Israel’s blatant violations of human rights,” the statement said.

The war between the two sides began when Hamas fighters killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel and abducted 251 hostages. More than half the captives have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered the remains of dozens more.

Israel’s military campaign, one of the deadliest and most destructive since World War II, has transformed large parts of cities into mounds of rubble. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in squalid tent camps and unused schools, and the health system has been gutted, even as it copes with waves of wounded from Israeli strikes.


OIC’s COMSTECH eyes enhanced academic collaboration between Pakistan, Bangladesh

Updated 14 June 2025
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OIC’s COMSTECH eyes enhanced academic collaboration between Pakistan, Bangladesh

  • COMSTECH to organize visit by Bangladeshi delegation of universities to Pakistan from June 16-21
  • Visit to explore partnerships in higher education, science and technology, says COMSTECH

ISLAMABAD: The OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) is organizing an upcoming visit by a high-level delegation of Bangladeshi universities to Pakistan next week, the global body said this week, as it aims to enhance academic collaboration between the two countries.

The 10-member delegation will comprise vice-chancellors and senior officials from leading public and private sector universities of Bangladesh, COMSTECH said in a statement on Friday. The delegation is set to visit Pakistan from June 16 to 21.

The visit is being organized at COMSTECH’s invitation and is being facilitated by the Bangladesh High Commission in Islamabad, it said.

“The primary objective of the visit is to explore and enhance avenues of academic collaboration and institutional partnerships in the fields of higher education, science, and technology,” COMSTECH said in a press release.

“The delegation will participate in a series of high-level meetings, discussions, and interactive sessions with top Pakistani universities in Lahore and Islamabad.”

It said that these Pakistani institutions are members of COMSTECH’s Consortium of Excellence (CCoE), a collaborative network of premier universities dedicated to advancing scientific cooperation and educational excellence among OIC member states.

“This initiative reflects COMSTECH’s continued commitment to fostering inter-university cooperation and strengthening academic ties across the Muslim world, particularly between Bangladesh and Pakistan,” the statement concluded.

Ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh have improved recently. Once one nation, Bangladesh split from Pakistan after a brutal 1971 war with Dhaka drawing closer to Islamabad’s arch-rival New Delhi over the years.

However, long-time Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in August 2024 after her government was overthrown by a student-led protest. She fled via helicopter to India, with Dhaka attempting to extradite her.

Relations between India and Bangladesh’s interim government have been frosty since then, allowing Islamabad and Dhaka to rebuild ties slowly.


Pakistan, EU discuss global security in fifth round of disarmament talks

Updated 14 June 2025
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Pakistan, EU discuss global security in fifth round of disarmament talks

  • Discussions focus on disarmament, non-proliferation of biological and chemical weapons, says Pakistani foreign office
  • Pakistan, European Union agree to hold sixth round of disarmament, non-proliferation talks in Brussels next year

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the European Union this week held the fifth round of non-proliferation and disarmament talks in Islamabad this week, where the two sides discussed enhanced cooperation and implications of emerging technologies on global and regional security, Pakistan’s foreign office said.

The talks between the two sides were held on June 12. The Pakistani delegation was led by Ambassador Tahir Andrabi, the additional foreign secretary for arms control, disarmament and international security. The EU delegation was headed by Ambassador Stephan Klement, the bloc’s special envoy for disarmament and non-proliferation.

The annual dialogue between both sides seeks to ensure global peace and regional stability through non-proliferation of weapons.

“Both sides engaged in a comprehensive exchange of views on issues related to international and regional peace, security, and strategic stability,” a statement from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said.

“Pakistan side briefed their EU interlocutors on developments in the wake of recent Pakistan-India conflict.”

India and Pakistan both engaged in the worst fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbors in decades last month before Washington brokered a truce on May 10. India accused Pakistan of deploying its nuclear-capable missile against it, a charge Islamabad denied.

The discussions also focused on various dimensions of disarmament and non-proliferation, with particular reference to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the statement said.

“In addition, the Dialogue reviewed recent trends in Multilateral Export Control Regimes (MECRs) and assessed the implications of Emerging Technologies on global security,” MoFA said. “The avenues for enhanced cooperation in the domain of Science Diplomacy were explored as well.”

The two sides agreed to hold the sixth round of the dialogue in Brussels in 2026.

The Pakistan–EU Dialogue on Non-Proliferation and Disarmament is a key part of the broader strategic engagement between Pakistan and the European Union, which has been institutionalized since 2012.

Pakistan says it attaches high importance to the dialogue, recognizing it as a vital platform for engagement on global and regional security, as well as on disarmament and non-proliferation issues.


IMF-backed tariff reforms raise concerns for Pakistan’s auto industry despite rising car sales

Updated 14 June 2025
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IMF-backed tariff reforms raise concerns for Pakistan’s auto industry despite rising car sales

  • Government aims to cut overall tariffs by 4% over five years to promote export-led growth
  • Industry stakeholders warn removing regulatory duties could hurt local manufacturers

KARACHI: While Pakistan’s automobile manufacturers are still parsing the government’s new financial plan, industry experts on Friday said proposed International Monetary Fund (IMF)-mandated reforms, such as the rationalization of trade tariffs, could erode long-standing protections for local industry.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the government plans to reduce the overall tariff regime by more than four percent over the next five years to steer the country toward an export-led growth model in line with the IMF program.

Under the National Tariff Policy 2025-30, the government aims to abolish additional customs duties (ACDs), regulatory duties (RDs) and provisions under the Fifth Schedule of the Customs Act, 1969. The goal is to simplify Pakistan’s tariff structure by reducing it to four duty slabs ranging from 0 to 15%.

The IMF-backed reforms are expected to lower Pakistan’s weighted average tariff by 3.2% points to 7.4%, said Shafiq Ahmed Shaikh, an automobile industry expert and former general manager of Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd.

“These tariff cuts will reduce protection to the auto industry along with reduction of the cost of vehicles,” he said. “It is a very sensitive point for industry… [and] must be discussed with the stakeholders for good, long-term and acceptable solutions.”

PARA-TARIFFS

Abdul Waheed Khan, spokesperson for the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), said regulatory duties are designed to protect local industry and discourage unnecessary imports.

“The ACD too should gradually be abolished because such para-tariffs are not good,” he told Arab News.

Para-tariffs are taxes and duties levied in addition to standard customs tariffs, such as ACDs and RDs. While often introduced to curb imports or raise revenues, they are controversial because they can create complexity, raise costs and distort trade policy.

Pakistan’s federal budget also proposes raising the sales tax on 850cc small vehicles to 18% to bring parity between petrol or diesel-powered cars and hybrids.

“This would increase the cost of vehicles for middle income groups,” said Khan of PAMA, which represents the local operations of Honda, Suzuki, Toyota and 16 other manufacturers.

“This is not good for our Made-in-Pakistan policy as small vehicles will go costlier at a time when people’s disposable incomes are already not so good,” he continued, declining further comment on the budget.

CARBON LEVY

Pakistan’s automobile market, long dominated by Japanese firms like Honda, Toyota and Suzuki, has recently seen new entrants, particularly Chinese and Korean electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers like BYD, SAIC and Kia, operating through joint ventures.

“The existing industry will face good competition from EV and as we know, the future is of Electric Vehicles specially from China,” Shaikh, the automobile industry expert, told Arab News.

As one of the countries most affected by climate change, Pakistan also plans to introduce a carbon levy of up to Rs10 ($0.04) per liter on petrol, diesel and furnace oil over the next two years.

The move is intended “to discourage excessive use of fossil fuels and provide financial resources for climate change and green energy programs,” Finance Minister Aurangzeb said in his budget speech earlier this week.

Shaikh dismissed suggestions that the levy would raise car prices, arguing that consumers would instead begin shifting to EVs.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also announced plans to impose differential taxes on the sale and import of vehicles based on engine size to promote the adoption of two- and three-wheeled EVs and reduce oil imports and pollution.

Syed Asif Ahmed, general manager of marketing at MG Motors, said the “industry is seeking clarity on recent budget.”

He noted that while the finance bill was silent on hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), social media was abuzz with reports that the government may raise the sales tax from eight % to 18 % next year.

“If true, this will jeopardize the huge investment done by almost all automakers on HEV,” Ahmed said.

The MG Motors executive also warned against reduced regulatory duties on used cars and commercial imports under schemes meant for returning expatriates.

“[The] used cars importers are abusing the gift, baggage and transfer of residence scheme for commercial trading,” Ahmed said.

CAR SALES

While stakeholders have voiced concerns over policy shifts, vehicle sales continue to show signs of recovery.

Passenger car sales rose 31% in May to 11,119 units, while cumulative sales from July to May in the outgoing fiscal year increased 32% year-on-year to 94,388 units, according to PAMA data.

“[The] growth is supported by a more stable macroeconomic environment, lower interest rates, easing inflation and improving consumer sentiment,” said Myesha Sohail, an analyst at Topline Securities Ltd., in a recent research note.

Sohail expects this momentum to continue into the next fiscal year, driven by lower interest rates and a pipeline of new models across combustion, hybrid and plug-in hybrid categories.