Monday, January 2, 2012

Imran Khan & missing persons case - part 1

Imran Khan & missing persons - part 1

In the beginning Imran Khan has started taking side of all those who were trying to find the whereabouts of missing persons in Pakistan. Till the end of Pervaiz Musharraf era, he was seen in many of these protests on streets and in the corridors of law where was appeared as their staunch supporter. Be it Dr. Afia or Ms. Amna Junjua or missing youngsters of Balochistan, Imran Khan was there in many of the protests, public meetings or press briefings. Since then he turned himself as the 3rd political force in Pakistan by himself, or by his hidden partners, he is seen away from this cause.

If you want to know how brutally Pakistani spy agencies treats fellow Pakistanis, you must meet Amna Janjua. An intelligent painter and interior designer, lives in Rawalpindi – probably few kilometers away from agencies offices where her husband, Masood Janjua was kept “disappeared” for number of years until handed over to Americans or still his whereabouts are unknown. It is a scandal and a disgrace especially for those who are being named as “the guardians of Pakistan” no matter the most wanted man was residing also few kilometers away from them and they “didn’t know his whereabouts,” and, of course, Amna tried to find his husband where ever she could, in last 7 years, all the way up to the President but no luck! Around 8,000 of Pakistan's missing citizens, men, for the most part, seized from their homes or from the streets by cops and soldiers on the orders of spies and intelligence agents and Americans working in Pakistan since 9/11. Only in Lahore alone, there are 120 "torture houses" just for the people missing in Punjab. “Their shrieks of pain from the basements could be heard by residents – who complained only that the buildings might provoke bomb attacks. In Pakistan today, preservation counts for more than compassion,” writes Robert Fisk.

Masood Janjua was 44 when he was "disappeared" on 30 July 2005. He ran an IT college and a travel agency, the father of two boys – Mohamed and Ali, and a girl, Aisha. He just never came home. Nobody saw what happened. Amna, who was 40 at the time, glows when she speaks of him. "We were so extremely close, so happy, our world was so heavenly – we were always visiting friends, having parties at home. He was so caring and kind to our children, so affectionate. That he should be taken from me! I think it was a very big mistake that they did. But when they do it – like this – they never say they were wrong."

Who are these "they?" Everyone you talk to would refuse to answer about this “they” because it could provoke "them" to undertake a quick execution. "They" is the Inter-Services Intelligence. "They" is military intelligence. "They" are the Americans, some of them present – according to the few "disappeared" who have been released – during torture sessions. The Defense of Human Rights Pakistan (DHRP), the movement which Amna founded with 25 other bereft families, has gathered evidence of English-speaking interrogators who calmly ask victims questions during their torment. Amna lives in a military district of Rawalpindi, beside an old British barracks, where US soldiers are observed in Pakistani uniforms – sometimes female American soldiers dressed, so she says, in the uniforms of Pakistani military paramedics, as it observed during the days of former military dictator Pervaiz Musharraf.

Could Imran Khan dare to continue his support for DHRP in coming days even when he would gain power corridors with the help of his ‘friends?’