KARACHI: Tal(ing note of `growing number of cases of enforced disappearances of individuals from different backgrounds`, the Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has called for release or production before the courts of law of those `detained` persons.

In a statement issued on Friday, the commission described the `enforced disappearance` of different people in Sindh as a critical issue which defied fundamental rights of individuals.

`The issue of missing persons in Sindh is a critical issue for the fundamental freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan,` the statement quoted the commission`s chairperson retired Justice Majida Razvi as saying.`The Sindh Human Rights Commission has noted that the enforced disappearances cause immense distress and anxiety for the family. It amounts to injustice to keep a person detained for indefinite time without any declaration of their crime and any information shared with the family on the location of the person and the charges against him.

The SHRC is a statutory body established under the Sindh Protection of Human Rights Act 2011. The commission was notified in May 2013 and has been working actively since its inception. Following a framework of the protection and promotion of human rights, the law mandates the commission with the powers to intervene on issues related to human rights in the province.

The chairperson, retired Justice Razvi, recently had also held a meeting with the delegation ofSindh Human Rights Defenders (SHRD), where the two sides discussed different issues including enforced disappearance of political and civil society activists. The delegation had stressed the need for SHRC to intervene in the issues of right to fair trial for the disappeared activists.

The chairperson further assured the delegation that the commission would take up all such grave human rights concerns at the higherlevelsforfurther improvement. In a fresh statement the commission called for immediate action for fair trial procedure of the people facing enforced disappearance.

`This is a denial of the right to fair procedure trialof the people concerned,` said the statement.

`According to the data shared by the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, there are 1,577 cases registered fromSindh. A number of reports suggest that those disappeared are linked to political parties, religious groups and human rights defenders. Chairperson of SHRC reiterated the need for a fair procedure for those detained.

Justice Razvi, who was the first woman to be appointed as judge of the Sindh High Court and has been serving as the commission`s first chairperson with two permanent members, was of the view that the trend of enforced disappearance did not only cause distress among the affected families, but also emerged as serious violation of human rights.

`Enforced disappearances not only stand as a grave injustice and denialofrights,itreinforces repression, marginalisation and polarisation in the society, leading to the possibility of social unrest,` the commission`s chairperson said in the statement.