Missing persons (Pakistan)

Missing persons is a generic term used in Pakistan to refer to the alledged ostensibly thousands of militants in Pakistan who have been forcefully disappeared after having been accused of assisting terrorist organizations. Some have reported to have been handed over to the CIA and/or flown to Bagram, Afghanistan and later shipped off to Guantanemo Bay. Reports of forced abductions by the Pakistani state first began arising in 2001, in the aftermath of the United States invasion of Afghanistan and the commencement of the US-led War on Terror. Many of the missing persons are activists associated with the secular Baloch nationalist and Sindhi nationalist movements.

People who have at any point gone missing

• Munir Mengal
• Allah Nazar Baloch
• Ghulam Mohammed Baloch (found dead in 2009, see also Turbat killings)
• Safdar Sarki
• Saud Memon
• Aafia Siddique and her three children
• Hafiz Abdul Basit

The term Missing Person also includes people who were secretly abducted, but whose tortured dead bodies were found a few days later. In some cases, the court has demanded that the officials concerned allow the person in their custody to appear before the court. However, immediately after the court verdict, their dead bodies are found by their relatives.

See also

• Gun politics in Pakistan
• Target killings in Pakistan

Further reading

• Fisk, Robert (18 March 2010). "Into the terrifying world of Pakistan's 'disappeared'". The Independent. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• Gall, Carlotta (19 December 2007). "Picture of Secret Detentions Emerges in Pakistan". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• "The unending ordeal of missing persons' families". Dawn (newspaper). 25 July 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• Plett, Barbara (13 December 2006). "Painful search for Pakistan's disappeared". BBC News Online. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• Montero, David (6 September 2007). "Pakistan: Disappeared". PBS Frontline. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• Walsh, Declan (16 March 2007). "Without a trace". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• "Pakistan: Thousands of persons remain missing amid government inaction". Asian Legal Resource Centre. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• Garcia, J. Malcolm (October 2010). "The Missing". Guernica Magazine. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• Masood, Salman (14 January 2007). "Relatives and rights group search for Pakistan's missing". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• "Pakistan families of missing pin hopes on Chaudhry". Agence France-Presse. 23 March 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• "Who took the 'disappeared' people?". Daily Times (Pakistan). 29 March 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• "Musharraf's stance on disappearances is wrong: HRCP". Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
• Khan, Ilyas (22 January 2007). "Pressure over Pakistan's missing". BBC news Online. Retrieved 4 December 2010.

See also

• Forced disappearance
• Enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka
• Human rights in Pakistan
• Balochistan conflict