Mama Qadeer Baloch claimed in a press conference in Karachi Press Club that there is “irrefutable” official documentation that Rashid Hussain was extradited to Pakistan from the United Arab Emirates. He said that Rashid had been arrested by the Emirati intelligence agencies, remained in their custody for six months and then extradited to Pakistan.
Asad Butt of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Rashid Hussain’s mother, activist Hooran Baloch, Wahab Baloch of the Baloch Rights Council and activist Mah Ganj Baloch were also in attendance in the press conference.
Addressing the gathering, Mama Qadeer Baloch – Vice-Chairman of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons – said that “enforced disappearances” have been rampant in Balochistan for the past two decades. Political and social activists are detained en masse and kept in confinement for years. Many have been killed and their mutilated dead bodies thrown on roads and hinterlands.
He said that the 23-year-old Rashid Hussain left for Dubai in 2017 to work in a construction company as a labourer and provide for his family. Barely a year in Dubai, Rashid Hussian was “abducted” by the Emirati intelligence agencies on December 26th, 2018, and kept in confinement for six months. He was never produced before a court and never formally indicted for any crime, he said.
Mama Qadeer further said that Rashid Hussain was then “illegally” extradited to Pakistan from the UAE. “There is irrefutable official documentation to prove this”, he said.
Rashid Hussain’s family, who were also in the press conference, said that they only knew of Rashid’s extradition when the news was run by the major news channels of Pakistan, including ARY News and Geo News. They also provided screenshots of the news clip.
The family said that they contacted the UAE immigration authorities in this regard and acquired the official documentation which proved that Rashid was extradited to Pakistan on 22 June 2019.
They said that constitution of the country dictates that if someone is accused of a crime, they shall be produced before the court for prosecution and given the right to defend himself. But things are different here: the accused is “illegally detained” and tortured, which is a grave violation of human rights. “We fear for Rashid’s life”, the family said.
The family revealed that the counter-terrorism court, while prosecuting the other five perpetrators of the Chinese consulate attack, had declared Rashid Hussain a fugitive. He has been in official custody for two years; the court is being misled, they said.
Rashid’s mother said that if both Pakistan and UAE deny the arrest of Rashid Hussain, then I request the Pakistani ambassador to UAE to ask the Emirati government about the disappearance of my son.
She also requested the chief justice of Pakistan, the president, the prime minister, the chief of army staff and the head of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances to produce her son before the court.
Asad Butt of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said that we have requested the authorities to present the detainees in the court 24 hours after their arrest. But unfortunately, the security forces imprison people for years and do not produce them before the court.