Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and former minister for human rights Shireen Mazari has claimed that the proposed bill on enforced disappearances has gone missing in Senate after the National Assembly approved it.
In a tweet, she said that “Our bill to criminalise enforced disappearances was delayed at every stage & tampered with in NA committee on intention but we removed most of tampering through amendment & got it passed by the NA. Then it disappeared on its way to Senate & remains disappeared. Invisible power!”
Mazari further said that “Now a new wave of mass harassment, profiling & disappearances of Baloch students is ongoing. Baloch students (are) leaving their degrees midway & and returning homes. Any rational person would realise those indulging in such targetings are a threat to the national security. Press of Pakistan please act.”
In regards to the criminalization of enforced disappearances, Pakistan has proposed a draft bill including the amendments to the Pakistan Penal Code. These amendments attempt to do away with the impunity of this crime and to slow down the rapidly growing enforced disappearance cases.
These amendments involve the Pakistan Criminal Code and the Criminal Code of Procedure and await Senate approval. The proposed bill defines enforced disappearance in section 52/B, the criminal penalty in section 513, and the penalty of a false allegation of such crime in section 514.
The penalty provided in the amendments, section 513, includes a 10-year prison sentence alongside a fine.
Furthermore, the amendments would allow criminal charges to be brought against anyone who has made a false allegation of enforced disappearance. This penalty could go up to five years imprisonment with a fine.
