Protests by families of the disappeared met with intimidation, harassment, violence

ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (NNI): The Pakistani authorities must end their outrageous crackdown on peaceful protests by families seeking justice for the enforced disappearance of their loved ones, Amnesty International said today in a new briefing detailing the state’s violation of the right to peaceful protest.
The briefing, ‘Braving the Storm: Enforced Disappearances and the Right to Protest’, documents the state’s use of harassment, intimidation, and even violence, to stifle peaceful protests by families of the disappeared. Many families turn to public demonstrations to pressure authorities to release their loved ones or for information about their whereabouts, having exhausted all means of redress through the justice system.
“Families of the disappeared are constantly let down by authorities through their lack of access to justice, the ineptitude of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances* and the failure of state institutions to hold perpetrators to account or even provide any answers,” said Dinushika Dissanayake, Deputy Regional Director for South Asia at Amnesty International.
“This injustice is only compounded by the cruel and callous treatment meted out to these families when they protest. The crackdown on the right to peaceful protest must end immediately.”
Enforced disappearance is a serious violation of international human rights law and a crime under international law. However, Pakistan’s intelligence services have routinely used enforced disappearance to target human rights defenders, political activists, students, and journalists, with the fate of hundreds of victims still unknown. NNI