Hina defends UN mission on missing persons

Defending the visit of the United Nations mission on enforced disappearances, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar

has said that it was not mandated to conduct any investigation. The minister in her policy statement in the National Assembly said, “The UN working group on Human Rights is not mandated to conduct any investigation or fact finding and have arrived on an invitation of the government”. However, her statement was unable to ease the concerns of inquisitive parliamentarians over the visit of a UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID). Earlier, a two-member UN mission arrived in Pakistan on Monday for a 10-day visit to collect data about missing persons. The foreign minister made it clear that the visit was in conformity with international rules. She added, “We should not be apprehensive of the visit. We are a democratic and pluralist country where judiciary is independent, the media is free and civil society is robust. All these features manifest that we protect human rights”. Khar further said that the UN mission was not going to draw conclusions and would rather discuss its findings with the government and interact with the media on September 20. She further stated, “Pakistan has a mechanism in place for the protection of human rights. The commission on missing persons is continuing its work; the Supreme Court has taken suo motu and the government is sincere in its protection of human rights”. The minister continued Islamabad had ratified many protocols and conventions of the UN regarding human rights, which shows commitment on part of the government to protect the rights of women, children, minorities and other vulnerable segments of society. She said that the UN working group had received an invitation from 91 countries and had visited over a dozen countries in order to engage with the governments to promote human rights. However, her statement failed to convince the parliamentarians. Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) MNA Raza Hayat Hiraj, who had raised the issue, insisted on holding debate on his adjournment motion. Terming the statement of foreign minister diplomatic, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Noor Alam Khan from endorsed the remarks of Hiraj.