AFAD - Reclaiming Stolen Lives

Contents

FOREWORD

MUGIYANTO
CHAIRPERSON, AFAD

INTRODUCTION

MARY AILEEN DIEZ BACALSO
SECRETARY GENERAL, AFAD

COUNTRY SITUATION:

CHINA
INDIA (JAMMU AND KASHMIR)
INDONESIA
NEPAL
PAKISTAN
PHILIPPINES
SRI LANKA
THAILAND

MUNIR’S CASE

AFAD’S RESPONSE

FEDEFAM’S LETTER

STATISTICS ON ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE IN ASIA:

CHINA
INDIA (JAMMU AND KASHMIR)
INDONESIA
NEPAL
PAKISTAN
PHILIPPINES
SRI LANKA
THAILAND

EPILOGUE

AFAD’S THEME SONG, DESAPARECIDOS

INDEX

BOOK WRITERS

Reclaiming Stolen Lives
Country Situation; Pakistan

PAKISTAN: IN THE GAME OF THE GENERALS
By Emilia P. Aquino

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In this land of longest glaciers and highest peaks, bordering Iran on the west, India on the east, and Afghanistan in the north, Pakistan has surpassed its neighbors in terms of intense political upheavals encompassing religion, possession of power, territorial claims, governance and collaboration with the world’s powerful. In this country, military strategies have continued running the country. Eleven years after its birth on 14 August 1947, the first martial law was declared by then Major General Iskander Mirza in collaboration with the Army Chief General Ayub Khan. Sharing of power between two uniformed men has set a trend of establishing political power after which the second-liners usurp the highest position in the government. This has been concretely demonstrated in the first partnership of Mirza and Khan. General Mirza was dispatched to London permanently while General Khan assumed the first Presidency of the country. This country has denied its citizens the advantages of democracy as Pakistan has remained under military rule for nearly five decades. This period was marked with military-bureaucratic maneuvers dominating the socio-political environment which was generally oppressive and anti-democratic. The punitive military era has also offered a guise of democracy coming in between following military directives. Over the years, this country has been the arena of generals grabbing power one over the other at the expense of a genuine nationalist struggle for political stability where every Pakistani’s human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.

Pakistan’s political landscape evolved with neglect for the fundamental freedoms and rights of its citizens especially women and children, religious minorities, and members of civil society. People opposing the government have been dealt with accordingly in the manner of overt and systematic repression of their civil and political rights. Enforced disappearance is one form of human rights violation which the military regime has adopted to curb dissent. This can precisely be attributed to a setting wherein military supremacy reigns over the voice of the Pakistani public.

The civil society organizations in Pakistan espousing full enjoyment of basic human rights and protection of the law have proceeded without let-up even if their numbers oftentimes fill the hunting lists of the intelligence office for outlaws or terrorists.

The struggle for civilian supremacy and sincere upholding of the Pakistani people’s human rights are in effect the primary call of its citizens, thereby sounding to its Asian neighbors and the whole international community the magnitude of violations committed by military regimes.

Against this backdrop, the following article focuses on the intricacies of military rule and “enforced disappearance” which has become standard for all countries subscribing to martial law and internal security paranoia and also to countries subservient to security policies of imperialist countries like the United States of America. This article would also include a description of the status of women vis-a-vis their role in advocacy against enforced disappearance and the accompanying gender issues surrounding their grief as families of the disappeared. Women are coping and containment of the myriad pains of survival will be analyzed along with their reproductive and productive responsibilities, many times compromised socio-culturally and aggravated by a military-ruled state.

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