Seminar on Missing Persons, 3 PM, 23rd March, HRCP auditorium

Do Countries Sell Their Own People?

Civil liberties in the age of the War on Terror

Some numbers:

• Missing for more than three years: more than 150
• Missing for three years: around 40
• Missing for two years: more than 50
• Missing for one year: more than 200
• Balochis and Sindhis missing: more than 2000!

Some law:

According to the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) rules, a suspect may not be held without charges for more than ninety days at a time.

Some questions:

1. Is it acceptable to you as a citizen that a fellow countryman is detained without charges for an indefinite period of time and without recourse to legal advice nor notification to his family?
2. If a pattern of similar detentions emerges, how do you respond?
3. Furthermore, how should one react if it emerges that detainees are often tortured in custody?
4. Then, if all the detainees are either bearded or Baloch or Sindhi or journalists, should ordinary citizens campaign for their release? According to their political, religious, ethnic or professional motivations? Or is there a larger principle at stake?
5. Just as importantly, are all bearded men Islamist terrorists? Are all Balochis and Sindhis who desire greater autonomy from the Centre necessarily traitors or separatists?
6. And what if the “general opinion” is that the majority of the detained people are dangerous elements who are likely to be involved in terrorist and/or anti-state activities? And that the law-enforcement/counter-espionage agencies that have kidnapped them will be unable to prove their cases in court? That as a result of upholding the rule of law, ill-informed citizens may win the release of some dangerous terrorists who do not seem to discriminate between combatants and non-combatants?
7. But, then, what if the public remains indifferent to these questions and the State gains in confidence to the point where it feels secure in arbitrarily detaining anyone who dares to criticize its policies? Is that such a remote possibility? Do we have enough confidence in the basic humanity and decency of state functionaries to grant them extraordinary discretionary powers to detain people?

If these are questions that plague your mind and your conscience, please join us for a discussion on civil liberties in the age of the War on Terror.

Meta

Quickie intro
Independently produced documentary about the abduction and illegal detention of Pakistani citizens by Pakistani intelligence agencies. The film is circulating informally among concerned citizens in Pakistan as the subject is too “hot” for commercial channels. This is truth-telling at its bravest, unflinching best.

Length
00:24:11

Who made this film?
The first frame credits a producer but given the explosive nature of the document and the state of fear in the country, there is serious doubt as to whether the person’s real name was used. There are rumours that it was produced in Karachi, but this has not been confirmed.

When was it made?
Again, no information came with the file. All we know, judging from the events depicted in the film, is that it was produced at least three months after March 9th, 2007 and before the landmark decision over-turning the ex-officio status of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Languages used
Narration in English. Most of the speech in Urdu, except for the exchanges in the harrowing protest scenes, has been subtitled in English.

Any screenings?
The FAST Rising blog mentions that their group’s screening was interrupted by the school’s authorities. Other than that, it is understood that some small groups – often human rights activists – have arranged invitation-only screenings.

Show, tell

Ways you can help:
1. Upload the AVI file to other file sharing mechanisms (popular servers as well as decentralised P2P networks).
2. Upload the film to other video sites.
3. Share widely among friends and family.
4. If you are a member of a film club or know of one in your locality/region, arrange a screening.
5. Step up your support for the campaign against the phony “war on terror”.

Watch, listen

Streaming and some download possibilities on Google Video, video bit rate: 512 bps

Streaming and some download possibilities on Veoh.com, video bit rate: 192 bps – tagged by publisher as mature content due to some violent scenes.

AVI file download from Rapid Share, video bit rate: 512 bps – makes you jump through hoops, likely to fail if your connection is slow.

More to be added as word spreads.