Pakistan
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that between March 2011 and June 2022, 8,463 complaints had been received by Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances. HRW noted that activists believe the actual number of disappearances is higher.
A large number of cases are related to actions by the armed forces and police, including those associated with government security operations in Baluchistan. On 23 June 2022, Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah reiterated the state’s obligation to investigate cases of enforced disappearance and criticized the Commission of Enquiry for failing to ensure the cooperation of “public functionaries” in investigations.
In October 2022, The Jurist website reported that although enforced disappearances became a function of authoritarian rule in Pakistan in the 1970s “the number of cases of enforced disappearance increased significantly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.”
