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"Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong; they are the ones to attain felicity".
(surah Al-Imran,ayat-104)
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[Re: UA-129-2005: PAKISTAN: Investigation stalled into horrific killing of a human rights activist's son]
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UP-203-2006: PAKISTAN: Complete lack of progress in the police investigation into the horrific killing of a human rights activist's son for two years

PAKISTAN: No investigation; intimidation of the human rights defenders; denial of justice; impunity; collapse of the rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned by the complete lack of progress of the unduly delayed police investigation for the last two years into the case of Mr. Faraz Ahmed Naveed, a 21-year-old Karachi university student, who had been kidnapped and murdered in Karach, Sindh province on 8 November 2004. Farraz is the son of Baseer Naveed, a prominent human rights activist and journalist in Pakistan, who led the movement of more than 50 communities against the construction of Lyari Expressway in Karachi (To see our original urgent appeal on this case, visit: UA-129-2005). It is reported that three sub inspectors and three deputy superintendents of police (DSPs), who were working on the case have been changed for  the last two years and at least two DSP who made some progress in the case have been immediately transferred.

November 11, 2006 will be the two year anniversary of the murder of Farraz. However, the Karachi police has not moved an inch into the investigation of this case since the incident occurred in 2004. 

According to the latest information we have received, the Ferozabad police station in Karachi has failed to return the belongings of Farraz which were found with the body to his parents despite their repeated requests for years. They are include Farraz's college bag, his diary, some books, 3,000 Pakistan rupees (USD 500), his national identity card, his university card and some audio and video CDs.

Farraz's parents allege that the police are deliberately avoiding giving those belongings to them. They believe that Farraz's diary may include the actual clue to find out the cause of his death and identify his murderers. According to the parents, Farraz's friends later informed them after his death that Farraz had told friends that he had received several threats. Farraz never discussed these threats with his parents in order not to make them worry but probably wrote them in his diary.  When the parents asked the police to return Farraz's dirary, the police all the time said that "we will give it back to you next time".

Meanwhile, the Mr. Manzoor Mughal Deputy Inspector General (DIG)-Investigation of Sindh province, has changed three investigating officers (all are sub-inspectors) of the case within one month after Farraz's killing without any sufficient reason. Farraz's father Baseer Naveed reported that the first investigating officer of his son's case, Mr. Ithal was transferred within 48 hours of the incident when he was preparing a detailed report about the case. In fact, he was the person who witnessed that the hospital authorities refused to conduct a postmortem on Farraz's body.       
 
Similarly, the said DIG also changed three DSPs of the Jamshed Quarter police station, who were deputed to investigate the case during the two years of 2004-2005. Those DSPs were supervising the investigating officers of the case. According to Baseer, Mr. Akbar Sanjrani, one of the three DSPs, who was taking much interest in his son's case and began to make some progress in the investigation, was immediately transferred. Baseer also said that he gave permission to another DSP to exhume Farraz's body for the purpose of the post-mortem and also arranged some facilities with the medical superintendent of Civil Hospital for the same purpose. However, in no time he was also transferred. The family alleges that the said DIG should be held accountable for the failure of the police investigation as he deliberately delays the investigation process of the case by frequently changing the investigating officers. 

Farraz's family also reported that the current DSP in charge of investigating the case does not show any willingness to conduct the investigation to date. They also insisted that the murderers were backed by very influential figures, considering the fact that even Mr. Sanjrani, who is the younger brother of Chief Secretary of Sindh province, was immediately transferred when he did progress in the case. When Farraz was found be murdered, Mr. Sanjrani was the then DSP of the area where the killing took place.

As a result, no murderers have been identified and arrested to date.

The AHRC has also been informed that the Gulshane Iqbal police have not initiated any investigation regarding the beating of Farraz's younger brother Yasir Naveed on 3 December 2004. Yasir was removed from the school bus and beaten by unknown persons about one month after his brother's killing. The assaulters reportedly told him to "tell your father not to go any further". On the same day of the incident, the family complained about the incident with the Gulshane Iqbal police station. However till date the police even have not filed the first information report (FIR), which is required procedure to begin the investigation.

Farraz's family members still suffer from trauma due to his killing and left Karachi area due to constant threats and intimidation.

The AHRC is deeply concerned by the long lasting and deep silence of the Karachi police into the killing of Farraz and total impunity granted to the murderers of Farraz. We call for the Pakistan authorities' urgent intervention into this matter so that justice can be delivered to the victim's family without further delay.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant Pakistan authorities listed below and urge them to take genuine action to investigate Farraz's killing and identify and arrest the murderers as soon as possible. Please also urge them to make the independent investigating agencies outside of Sindh province take charge of the investigation of this case in order to ensure the transparency and impartiality of the case.

To support this case, please click:

PAKISTAN: Complete lack of progress in the police investigation into the horrific killing of a human rights activist's son for two years

Name of the victim: Mr. Faraz Ahmed Naveed, a 21-year-old Karachi university student at the time of the incident, son of Baseer Naveed, who is prominent human rights activist and was the Chairman of the Citizen Action Committee in Karachi, Pakistan
Date of incident: Kidnapped on 8 November 2004 and found dead on 10 November 2004
Case status: No progress in the investigation of the case for the last two years with deliberate inaction by the investigating officers

I am writing to bring your urgent attention to the prolonged delay of the investigation into the horrific killing of Mr. Faraz Ahmed Naveed, a 21-year-old Karachi university student who was kidnapped and murdered in Karach, Sindh province on 8 November 2004. The victim is the son of Mr. Baseer Naveed, a prominent human rights activist and journalist in Pakistan, who led the movement of more than 50 communities against the construction of Lyari Expressway in Karachi.

November 11, 2006 will be the two year anniversary of Farraz's murder. However, I am sorry to see that the Karachi police have failed to make any progress in investigating this case. As a result, none of the murderers have been identified and arrested till date.

I am particularly concerned by the frequent transfer of the investigating officers of this case. As far as I was informed, three sub inspectors and three deputy superintendents of police (DSPs), who were working on the case have been changed for  the last two years by Mr. Manzoor Mughal Deputy Inspector General (DIG)-Investigation of Sindh province without any sufficient reason. For example, the said DIG changed three investigating officers (all are sub-inspectors) of the case within one month after the incident. For example, the first investigating officer of his son's case, Mr. Ithal was transferred within 48 hours of the incident when he was preparing a detailed report about the case.

I was also informed that at least two DSP who made some progress in the case have been immediately transferred.  According to the victim's father, Mr. Akbar Sanjrani, who was the then DSP of the area where the killing took place at the time of the incident, was transferred soon after he began to make some progress in the investigation. Another DSP was soon transferred soon after he reportedly tried to exhume the victim's body for post-mortem purposes with the permission of the victim's family before his transfer.

Farraz's family also alleges that the current DSP in charge of investigating the case does not show any willingness to conduct the investigation. Under the circumstances, no result came out from the investigation even though two years have already passed since the incident. I believe that the said DIG is accountable for the failure of the police investigation as he deliberately delays the investigation process of the case by frequently changing the investigating offices. 

I was also informed that the Ferozabad police in Karachi have failed to return the belongings of Farraz, including his diary to his parents despite their repeated requests for years. The family believe that Farraz's diary may include the actual clue to find out the cause of his death and identify his murderers. However, when the parents asked the police for returning Farraz's diary, the police all the time said that "we will give it back to you next time".

I am extremely disappointed by the fact that the Gulshane Iqbal police have not initiated any investigation regarding the beating of Farraz's younger brother Yasir Naveed on 3 December 2004, one month after his brother's killing. The assaulters reportedly told him to "tell your father not to go any further". On the same day of the incident, the family complained about the incident with the Gulshane Iqbal police station. However till date the police even have not filed the first information report (FIR), which is required procedure to begin the investigation. The police could have found a possible clue to identify the murderers by investigating this incident but all become in vain due to the police's inaction. 

I therefore strongly urge you to immediately intervene into this case. Please promptly appoint independent investigating agencies outside of Sindh province to conduct an impartial investigation into this case, and take all possible measures to speed up the investigating process. The victim's diary should be return to the victim's family and all the measures should be taken to identify the murderers of the victim. I also urge you to inquire about the allegation of deliberate inaction of the said DIG and the DSP, who is currently in charge of the case investigation, and take strong disciplinary and legal action against them if they are proven to guilty.

I look for your urgent intervention into this matter.

Yours truly,
 Reply:   PAKISTAN: Remembering Faraz Ah
Replied by(Noman) Replied on (7/Nov/2006)
On 8 November 2004, a 21-year-old philosophy student at the University of Karachi had just finished a radio broadcast on the famous poet Joan Elia when he was abducted from the downtown buil

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AS-276-2006
November 7, 2006

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PAKISTAN: Remembering Faraz Ahmed

On 8 November 2004, a 21-year-old philosophy student at the University of Karachi had just finished a radio broadcast on the famous poet Joan Elia when he was abducted from the downtown building. His tortured and mutilated body was found at its boundary wall two days later, November 10. It was taken to the Jinah Post Graduate Hospital, a government facility, for autopsy. But the doctor--already informed that the killing had been ordered by powerful and influential persons--refused to do his job. After waiting outside in the hot sun for three hours, the young man's parents were forced to take the body away for funeral rites, without a post mortem as required by law.

Faraz Ahmed was murdered and denied his last legal right--a medical examination to determine the causes of his death and identify clues that may lead to the arrest of the perpetrators--because his father, Baseer Naveed, was leading local people to make their voices heard by the government and army officials backing the massive Lyari Expressway project. The expressway planners and their associates resented Baseer for his work, but knew also that he would not be deterred by threats against his own life. So instead they made his son their target. Even this was not enough: other members of Baseer's family too were attacked in public, until finally he had no choice but to move them to safety far from their hometown.

Meanwhile, in the two years since Faraz was murdered, and despite repeated calls from many quarters, neither the police nor other government officials have shown any interest in the case. No forensic examinations of either the crime scene or the victim's clothes and other belongings have ever been conducted. The authorities have not even shown the basic human decency of returning the belongings recovered from Faraz's schoolbag and pockets to his family. Rather, the police simply recorded a few statements and then started their routine methods of trying to extract money from parties to the case. Every time they have been pressed hard on the lack of progress, senior officers have changed the investigator and said that the new one would handle the case better. And so it goes on.

The judiciary also has been complicit. The case has never gone to court. The judicial magistrate in the locality of Ferozabad Police Station, where the murder occurred, has the authority to order that the police bring something before him. He has never bothered.

Attempts at imposing discipline or punishment have been no more than cruel jokes. Shortly after the killing, the governor of Sindh instructed the provincial police surgeon to investigate why a post mortem was never conducted as required by law. After two years, nobody has ever come up with a report, and apparently no one cares. In December 2004, the advisor on health to the Chief Minister of Sindh ordered that the doctor who refused to conduct the autopsy be suspended from service. After one week, the order was revoked and the doctor transferred to another city. Some six months later, he had his old job back.

Today the Asian Human Rights Commission remembers the life of a young man, a young humanist, peace activist and poet, whose life was taken from him ruthlessly and far too soon. Faraz Ahmed was a victim of a morally bankrupt and institutionally corrupt administration. He was the victim twice: once upon death, and once after death, when those persons responsible for killing him were also capable of ensuring that the country's medical, investigative and judicial bodies all failed to respond to the gross injustice signified by his lifeless body.

On the second anniversary of the murder of Faraz Ahmed, the Asian Human Rights Commission again calls for justice. In calling for justice for Faraz, it is calling for justice not only for him. It is calling for justice for the countless others like him in Pakistan made victims of power, influence and systemic impunity. In calling for justice for Faraz, it is calling for the upholding of basic human decency in the hospitals, police stations, government departments and courts of Pakistan. If the life of this one can be vindicated and celebrated, then perhaps the same can be done for others. If this much can not be done, then what can we say of the institutions and society of Pakistan today?

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.


 


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