Pakistan's missing
Activists disappear overnight, India must come to the aid of independent voices in Pakistan.
Pakistan appears to be lurching towards totalitarianism, with at least five bloggers and independent civil society activists having mysteriously `disappeared' over the last fortnight. The evidence points towards state involvement in their disappearances.All of them questioned state policies; their families have reported men in plain clothes taking them away in unmarked cars in similar fashion; they have been targeted through orchestrated online smear campaigns; and the assumption within Pakistan is that they have been kidnapped by the government to silence independent voices.
This used to be a common fate of Balochi activists before, but now such practices have reached deep into the Pakistani mainstream with the current abductions being reported from Islamabad and Punjab. Major cities have witnessed protests demanding their immediate release; nevertheless bloggers and activists are even more vulnerable than journalists in Pakistan. Human Rights Watch, the UN and US state department have all expressed concern at the fate of the disappeared. India should not remain a silent spectator.
As one of South Asia's most stable democracies, India should speak out in defence of human rights in the region. New Delhi recently made human rights in Balochistan an area of concern following Pakistan's all-out intervention in Indian Kashmir. This concern should extend, logically, to the persecuted in other parts of Pakistan ¬ keeping in mind that the democratic constituency intersects largely with the peace constituency as well. Given the shrinking space for freedom in Pakistan New Delhi should not only call for the activists' release but also offer asylum to persecuted dissidents, who may want a safe space to pursue their activism within Pakistan. That's how the West trumped the Soviet Union during the Cold War; today's instantaneous means of communication make it even easier to amplify voices across borders.
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