Military Junta Eats Another Son of Pakistan

This evening I was reading the text of the bill recently passed by the House of Representatives and referred to the Senate and was trying to figure out how we American Pakistanis can influence through the Congress the military junta's growing atrocities and blatant disregard for human rights of the citizens of Pakistan.

The phone rang and 'someone' gave me the news that he had just read an Associated Press release that Khalid Khawaja has been abducted in Pakistan by the security agencies when he went out ot pray Fajr prayer in the Masjid. He is Executive Directo of Defense of Human Rights Pakistan.

It was shocking but expected. He was the most vocal of all military junta's critics and he and Mrs Amina Janjua were creating a lot of embarassment for the government by organizing rallies and making a lot of noise in the media. The person on the phone is anattorney who is representing one of the Pakistanis at Guantanamo Bay prison. He wanted to know if Khawaja was on his way to join other detainees in this American Gulag.

I told him that I had not received any call from Khawaja in the last couple days and was wondering what was going on. But I will give a call to Mrs. Janjua and see if the news was correct. She was asleep. My call woke her. She confirmed the news. Khawaja's mother had seen a car with dark tinted glasses parked in front of her house.

One more gone into the blood thirsty tentacles of military junta. How many more will go through this grinder before Pakistanis get their rights back from the claws of despotism?

Here is the news of Khalid Khawaja's abduction in the New York Times:

Rights Activist Disappears

"ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 26 (AP) — A prominent human rights activist who campaigned for the release of dozens of people said to be held by Pakistani intelligence agencies disappeared Friday, his family and the police said.

The activist, Khalid Khawaja, chief coordinator of Defense of Human Rights, disappeared from a residential area of Islamabad while on his way to a mosque for morning prayers."