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``Enforced disappearances on the rise in South Asia''

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Amnesty International has expressed concern over the growing incidence of "enforced disappearances'' of people in South Asia as Governments in the region step up their campaign against terrorism.

In a report, released here to mark the International Day of the Disappeared, Amnesty said "new patterns'' of such disappearance had emerged with many cases being reported from Pakistan — besides Nepal and Sri Lanka where it had been a "long-standing'' problem.

Referring to India, it said an estimated 8,000-10,000 "enforced disappearances'' had been reported from Jammu and Kashmir since 1989.

"While fewer new cases are reported now, there is still no information about past cases,'' it said.

About Pakistan, the report said: "Amnesty International believes that several hundreds of people have become victims of enforced disappearances in Pakistan in the context of the `war on terror'. Whilst many of those have eventually been acknowledged as being held in Guatanamo Bay, others are believed still to be held in Pakistani detention although their precise whereabouts remain unknown. Some people were released after receiving threats not to reveal details about their detention, while others were subsequently criminally charged. In at least one case, the body of a victim of enforced disappearance was found six months after he had been captured. The fate or whereabouts of many others remain unknown.''

Catherine Baber, deputy director for Asia-Pacific at Amnesty International, said it was "disappointing'' that Pakistan had joined a "trend'' that should be declining.

Describing "enforced disappearance'' as a gross violation of human rights, she said: "South Asia has a history of enforced disappearances, with tens of thousands of people going missing over past decades in countries such as Nepal and Sri Lanka... It not only affects the victims but takes a heavy toll on their families. Relatives are left to agonise over the fate of their loved ones in the face of official denials and contradictions. They are harassed in their attempts to obtain information and face financial difficulties when the victim is the breadwinner.''

The report listed a number of cases of "enforced disappearances'' in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. It said that in Nepal while a Government committee stated in July that it was investigating 600 cases of enforced disappearance, according to "local activists'' more than 1,000 persons were missing. Sri Lanka, it said, had one of the highest levels of "unresolved enforced disappearances''.

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