On 13th November, 56 year old human rights activist, Idris Khattak was forcibly disappeared in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Khattak had tirelessly worked on enforced disappearances in Pakistan and he was also affiliated with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, documenting human rights abuses in KPK and the tribal belt.
According to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, Khattak’s disappearance is part of the 2,122 other unresolved cases still pending against the Pakistani state. Additionally, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) says that enforced disappearances in Pakistan are no longer restricted to conflict zones alone, but it is “a tactic for suppressing dissenting voices wherever they are present”, and Idris Khattak was one such voice.
His brother, Dr. Owais Khattak has filed a case in the Peshawar High Court after the kidnapping.
Reported by Ayesha Nazar
