In a bid to recognise the universal nature of the struggle against enforced disappearances, a network of independent activists in Sri Lanka staged a demonstration in front of the High Commission of Pakistan in Colombo last week, demanding justice for Pakistani victims of the crimes.
In solidarity with Pakistani activists and dissidents, the Lankan activists demanded justice from the Government of Pakistan and handed over a petition to the High Commission in Colombo. Sri Lanka’s own disappearances campaigners still searching for their loved ones, Sandya Ekneligoda, Sitthi Jameena, Vathana Sunthararaj and Mayuri Inoka also demonstrated in solidarity with Pakistani families of the missing. In their petition to the Pakistani High Commission, the activists said, enforced disappearances are often used by repressive States as a systematic weapon of “counter-terror” to target dissenting thinkers such as, progressive activists, educators, journalists and political opponents; and in the context of Pakistan, ethnic and religious minorities such as, Pashtuns, Balochis, Kashmiris, Sindhis and Shias as well.
“Unlike in Sri Lanka, where many who are abducted remain unaccounted for, Pakistani abductees are sometimes released after weeks or even years, often reporting interrogation under conditions of neglect or torture by the State. However, there remain a large number of unresolved cases, with Pakistani families of the disappeared desperately seeking answers and justice from the government of Pakistan. Although a consolidated number of outstanding disappearances does not exist, the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances counts 1,640 unresolved cases out of 4,804 reported,” the petition stated.
Sri Lanka’s history of enforced disappearances began in the 1970s during the period of two insurrections, and continued until well after the end of the civil war in 2009.