Enforced abductions by the Pakistani military and its affiliated departments are not new. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Pakistani military carried out thousands of enforced abductions in what was then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). All the governments since 2008 elections succumbed to this policy of terror in order to remain in power although they had earlier promised to end this policy. Unfortunately, we do not see an end to this policy in the foreseeable policy.
AV Staff Writer
On November 26, 2021, Islamabad police raided a massage parlor in Islamabad on the suspicion that it was being used as a brothel house and arrested several persons including a Pak Army major — Naveed Khan — who is currently serving in one of the military intelligence agencies. The police raiding team was led by a junior police officer – Assistant Sub Inspector Zahoor Ahmed.
When the army major identified himself and ordered Ahmed to let him go, the police officer refused to oblige, possibly because he had raided the brothel house on the orders of Assistant Commissioner (AC) Sanya Hameed Pasha.
The police officer apparently believed that Major Naveed Khan was lying to escape as he refused to show his army identity card. The police took these persons to the police station and registered First Information Report (FIR). Shortly thereafter a group of army officers came to the Golra police station and forcibly took the accused army major away. On Nov 29, plainclothesmen from a military secret agency forcibly abducted ASI Ahmed.
Asad Toor accused the police of not registering the FIR when the family of ASI Ahmed reported the enforced abduction to the police. Under the Pakistani law, the police cannot refuse to register the FIR. According to internationally known journalist Umar Cheema, like many others, accused the police of abandoning their colleague (under Pakistan Army’s pressure).
When ASI Ahmed’s family approached the press, they also refused to report the enforced abduction. However, when the social media reported the enforced abduction and protested, the police officer was released. He had been visibly severely tortured while he was in illegal confinement. The tortured police officer said he had gone on vacation to Murree, a hill station near Islamabad. Few victims of enforced abductions by the Pakistani military dare to tell the truth if or when they are released from illegal confinement.
This was not the first enforced abduction of a police officer. In November 2020, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar had also been forcibly abducted by Sindh Rangers – headed by an army major general — in the middle of night after he refused to issue illegal orders from the military to arrest Muhammad Safdar Awan – the son-in-law of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The IGP Sindh was released only after he signed those orders. Although this has been confirmed by other officials, the IGP has chosen not to speak about the event.
When ASI Ahmed came back to the police station after his release, he was told to go on leave. A couple of days later, FIA arrested ASI Ahmed under Official Secrets Act. He is accused of selling state secrets to a foreign diplomat of an enemy country. According to Pakistani officials, intelligence agencies had been following ASI Ahmed for some time after they learned about his dealings with a foreign intelligence agency. ASI Ahmed had gone to meet the undercover diplomat on the day he was arrested. According to the official version, FIA arrested ASI Ahmed from the Blue Area –Islamabad’s commercial area – where the undercover diplomat dropped him. Interestingly, the official also said that ASI Ahmed was picked by the undercover diplomat from the same place. The FIA official also claimed to have recovered a couple of USBs with sensitive information and Rs 50,000 (US $275) from ASI Ahmed.
The official version raises several questions:
- Why would ASI Ahmed meet the undercover diplomat soon after being released from the custody of an intelligence agency?
- Why would the undercover foreign agent pick from and drop ASI Ahmed at the same place?
- Why would the police officer come back with the USBs with sensitive information after meeting with the foreign undercover agent? Did he forget to hand over the USBs to the undercover diplomat?
Pakistan’s independent journalists and observers strongly dispute the official version. Respected young human rights attorney Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir calls it “a false and frivolous FIR.” In a tweet, she says that the military is teaching ASI Ahmed a lesson for doing his job. She says that the FIA is doing this at the behest of the military which is protecting a major who was caught with his pants down. She also accuses the press of spreading fake news. In another tweet, Ms. Mazari-Hazir wonders why so much cruelty only to save an army major who was caught with his pants down.
Enforced abductions by the Pakistani military and its affiliated departments are not new. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Pakistani military carried out thousands of enforced abductions in what was then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). After the breakup of Pakistan in 1971, they continued their policy of enforced abductions in what remained of Pakistan. In the 1970s, the Pakistan Army abducted and killed Asad Mengal, the elder son of former Chief Minister Sardar Ataullah Mengal. They have never accepted the culpability. After General Pervaiz Musharraf illegally dismissed the Nawaz Sharif government, the military turned enforced abductions into a state policy. Although precise number of enforced abductions in the last 20 years is not known, more than 10,000 persons – mostly from Baluchistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are in the illegal custody of the Pakistani military — many of them may have been killed by torture. All the governments since 2008 elections succumbed to this policy of terror in order to remain in power although they had earlier promised to end this policy. Unfortunately, we do not see an end to this policy in the foreseeable policy. Follow us on Twitter @AlterVoices
