In a significant rebuke to Pak Army’s practice of enforced disappearances, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday flatly rejected the authorities’s attempt to close the case of Ahmed Farhad Shah, a poet whose enforced disappearance has drawn international attention.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, presiding over the case, issued a clear and unequivocal response to the plea: the case will only conclude when Shah is physically produced before the court. This decision marks a striking departure from past instances where such cases have been quietly shelved.
The case, filed by Shah’s wife, Urooj Zainab, in the IHC on May 15, seeks not only her husband’s recovery but also demands the identification, investigation, and prosecution of those responsible for his disappearance. Her legal team, comprising human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali, has vigorously pursued the case.
During Friday’s hearing, Additional Attorney General Munawwar Iqbal, representing the federal government, informed the court that Farhad was in physical remand until June 2. He then brazenly requested the IHC to wrap up the illegal confinement case.
“This request epitomizes the state’s approach to enforced disappearances,” commented Mazari. “First, deny any knowledge. Then, when caught, admit to detention but ask for silence. It’s a chilling pattern.”
Mazari also revealed disturbing details about the family’s search for Shah. When they visited Dhirkot Police Station in Pakistan-Occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK), they couldn’t trace his whereabouts. Later, they discovered he had been transferred to Muzaffarabad under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
“Using anti-terror laws to silence poets—this is the reality of Pakistan’s ‘democracy,'” said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s a tactic straight out of an authoritarian playbook.”
Farhad’s disappearance is linked to his recent reporting on the protests in POJK. His pursuit of justice for Kashmiris put him in harm’s way as Pakistan’s military has a troubling record of dehumanizing those who stand for rights and provide strength to social movements.
For now, Ahmed Farhad Shah’s voice remains silenced. But in the echoing halls of the Islamabad High Court has offered a glimmer of hope in landscape of enforced disappearances.