ISLAMABAD, MAY 24: PTI leader Shireen Mazari on Tuesday claimed that as the human rights minister in the previous government she was asked to appear at the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) headquarters over a bill pertaining to enforced disappearances.
The former human rights minister made the revelation while speaking to the media at the National Press Club in Islamabad where she also spoke of her recent arrest.https://www.youtube.com/embed/eyS-P9Sbs6g?enablejsapi=1&showinfo=0&rel=0
“I have always taken a position against enforced disappearances,” she said, adding that the former government had also drafted a bill in this regard. She said that former premier Imran Khan had wanted the bill to be tabled in parliament and had asked the ministries to see whether it came under their rules of business.
“That evening I got a phone call asking me to appear at the ISI headquarters […] I went and I said that we had signed international conventions.”
She went on to say that after the bill was tabled in the National Assembly, it was referred to the interior committee where “invisible shadows” tried to change the clauses. She said that the amendments were passed by the assembly, regretting that it “disappeared” on the way to the Senate.
“My position is very clear regarding enforced disappearances,” she said, adding that Imran had also voiced his opposition from the beginning. “He always used to go to Amna Janjua’s protests.”
“We have also taken a position against this in our manifesto and will take the same position in the next one. But you know there are so many powers that stop bills [from being passed],” she said, adding that the journalist protection bill was also passed with “great difficulty”.
“You don’t know how it was passed, what obstacles we faced,” she said. On a lighter note, she added that she would reveal all these details if and when she wrote a book.
This is not the first time the former minister has spoken of the disappearance of the missing persons bill. In January, she told media persons at the Ministry of Human Rights that the bill had gone missing after being sent to the Senate.
