Hundreds of Pakistanis Abducted by Agencies Since 2001 : HRCP

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its 2006 annual 340-page report has painted a grim and gloomy picture of the country in 18 separate categories, such as law, administration of justice, law and order, rape and other atrocities against women, rights of children, restrictions on political participation, rights of labour, and issues of health and environment, saying that there was a complete breakdown of institutions and of law and order. But the report has called the abduction of Pakistani citizens by Pakistan's security agencies and their detention at undisclosed torture centers or illegal extradition to US to be the most critical and pressing human rights problem.

It has documented reports of at least 400 cases of organized disappearances since 2001. It claims the number of documented cases only "the tip of the iceberg" because the loved ones of a large number of abducted Pakistanis chose the option to keep the abductions undocumented for fear of reprisals.

"Despite all the pleas, protests, demands from all sections of the public, including the (Supreme) Court of Pakistan, the vast majority, in the hundreds, of citizens - their whereabouts are still unknown," Iqbal Haiderthe commission's general secretary, said. The organiztion had filed a petition at the Supreme Court on behalf of a number of people who have been abducted, he said.

The report has accused the armed forces, paramilitary forces and security agencies of involvement in the abduction of Pakistani citizens, many of whom had "suffered an extreme degree of torture" and has called it "a highly disturbing trend". The military government and its security apparatus, accodring to the report, has exercised a "horrific pattern" of forced disappearances of its opponents, and has introduced a "new form of human rights abuse" which was increasing at an alarming rate. Citizens across the country were being picked up by intelligence agencies and taken to be detained in secret locations while some had been handed over to the US, the report said.

Mr Haider said that the country's security agencies, military and police were involved in the disappearance of Pakistani civilians, many of whom had "suffered an extreme degree of torture".

According to the commission, most of the disappeared were nationalist Pakistanis from the provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan who are viewed as a threat by the military government of General Musharraf.

In the past government officials have denied unlawful arrests, but according to the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad, under pressure from the Supreme Court they have been able to locate a number of missing people in army custody.

The Commission's Chairperson, Ms Asma Jahangir who has also served as the regional UN rapporteur, sees "a dysfunctional state of affairs in the country" where "nothing seems to be working. There seems to be a complete breakdown of institutions, a complete breakdown of law and order".

"Due to a collapse of institutions in the country, all remedial doors have been shut on aggrieved people and the state has completely failed to protect their rights. Instead, it has usurped their rights," Asma Jahangir said. "Torture of the missing persons is the rule rather than exception."

Prolonged and illegal detention and torture and humiliation of the detainees were growing problems, the report said.