Islamabad: Chairperson Defence of Human Rights (DHR) Pakistan, Amina Masood Janjua, has said that dismissing enforced disappearance cases cannot hide the truth. She stated that efforts are underway to continue the practice of enforced disappearances in the country, while the affected families are being denied justice.

Amina Masood Janjua added that the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has completely failed to achieve its objectives. Social and legal circles across the country, including DHR, have for years been demanding that this commission be dissolved and replaced with a better framework. DHR strongly condemns this policy shift and demands that the commission reopen hearings on all such cases.

Amina Masood Janjua expressed these views at a press conference held at the National Press Club Islamabad, accompanied by prominent social activist Tahira Abdullah, human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari, and others.

She further said that in the past ten months alone, the commission has removed 770 complaints from its record without providing justice. The Defence of Human Rights has been working tirelessly for the past twenty years to end the heinous crime of enforced disappearances, while the government-established commission has been in existence for fifteen years.

It was due to DHR's relentless struggle, lobbying, and over 750 petitions filed in the Supreme Court that the state was finally compelled to acknowledge that enforced disappearances are indeed a reality in Pakistan. Consequently, in 2010 - and later in 2011 - the then government had to establish the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances to address this issue.

However, the commission has utterly failed to fulfill its purpose. That is why DHR and other social and legal circles have long been demanding its dissolution and the creation of a better framework. Until such a framework is established, the commission must continue its work.

Amina Masood Janjua emphasized that 'dismissing cases in bulk will not change the reality.' The voices of hundreds of victims cannot be silenced. International bodies, including the United Nations and Amnesty International, have also taken notice of these case dismissals and expressed grave concern.