Footprints of those forcibly disappeared in South Asia
Across South Asia, countless people, including children as young as 15 have been subjected to enforced disappearance. Among the disappeared are journalists, activists, dissenters – individuals whose voices challenge authority and advocate for justice.
A person is forcibly disappeared when they have been apprehended by the authorities or their agents or people acting with their authorization. It always entails authorities refusing to acknowledge this or conceal the person’s fate or whereabouts. Enforced disappearance is a crime under international law. It’s not only a relic of past conflicts but also a contemporary instrument of oppression used by states across the world to silence dissent and instill fear.
Despite the establishment of numerous commissions in many South Asian countries to investigate these crimes, they have largely failed to ensure justice, or hold perpetrators accountable, leaving families of the victims in a constant state of anguish.
Amnesty International partnered with more than 20 human rights organizations campaigning to end this culture of enforced disappearance in the region. Together, we created “Footprints” – a digital place where the stories of the disappeared are memorialized. A place that provides the families of the disappeared an opportunity to unite in their demands for justice and accountability.
What causes enforced disappearances in South Asia?
Enforced disappearances are a serious and continuing human rights violation that affect most of South Asia’s countries where thousands of families still await news of the fate of loved ones. States weaponize enforced disappearances, often under the pretext of combating “terrorism” and maintaining national security.
South Asia has a long history of enforced disappearances. Sometimes states have kept people in arbitrary detention for a few hours, or a few weeks without revealing their whereabouts or release them, but in thousands of cases people have been disappeared for decades.
There are instances of enforced disappearances leading to extra-judicial executions. And cases where individuals who initially disappeared were later brought before courts on arbitrary charges.
The families of the disappeared often struggle – being socially ostracized, emotionally drained and financially vulnerable, often after losing the breadwinner of the family – with no justice, no closure. Additionally, they continue to be harassed by the authorities for demanding justice.
Enforced disappearances by country
Pakistan
Enforced disappearances in Pakistan goes far back as the 1980’s but was more frequently deployed after 2001, during the ‘War on Terror’, as a counterterrorism strategy.
Since 2011, at least 10,078 enforced disappearances were recorded by the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED). Of them, 3,485 took place in the provice of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 2,752 in Balochistan. Figures by human rights organisations and families suggest higher numbers. While many remain disappeared, in other cases, the state – after briefly abducting people – releases them or uses draconian laws and trumped-up charges to silence them. In addition to these so-called resurfaced disappearances, there have been instances of the same person being repeatedly abducted by the state.
On 7 June 2021, a proposed amendment to the Penal Code was presented before parliament by the Ministry of Human Rights, but it failed to meet the standards of international law and eventually lapsed in the Senate.
Most of the families of forcibly disappeared people are unable to seek legal support to locate their loved ones for socio-economic reasons, despite broad constitutional safeguards. Their protests demanding justice continue despite resistance and harassment from the state.
Bangladesh
Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh, tracing back to the 1971 independence and subsequent years, escalated since the Awami League’s ascent to power in 2009. Reports by Sweden-based Bangla news portal called Netra News and human rights organizations, such as Odhikar and the Asian Human Rights Commission indicate that hundreds have fallen victim to this henious tactic.
Bangladesh’s notorious Rapid Action Batallion, which consists of officers of Bangladeshi Army, Navy, Air Force, Border Guards, and police force, is accused of carrying out enforced disappearances, along with other human rights violations. The suffering of the families of the disappeared impacts their mental, social, economic, and physical well-being; and they often face harassment from law enforcement authorities as well.
Activists and organizations like Maayer Daak and Odhikar face governmental repression, including false charges and operational restrictions, indicating a broader crackdown on civil society and human rights advocacy until the regime change in August 2024.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has been ranked as the country with the second-highest number of enforced disappearances worldwide, with 60,000 – 100,000 reported cases during the civil war and youth uprisings.
The practice of enforced disappearances traces back to the 1970s and 1980s, during the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) led insurrections (1971 and 1988-89). It intensified throughout the internal armed conflict, with Tamil youths disproportionately abducted by state forces and government-aligned militants.
The cessation of the armed conflict in 2009 did little to halt enforced disappearances. State backed groups in white vans created a new series of post war enforced disappearances, a wave of “white van abductions”, targeting journalists, activists and minorities communities. There is a trail of devastation, unanswered questions and deep-rooted grief among the families of the missing. Their tireless quest for truth, justice and reparation has been marred by state evasion, silence and even harassment.
Sri Lanka introduced a mechanism in 2016 for the families to apply for death certificate for their missing family members, one year after their disappearance, and introduced a certificate of absence for the missing persons in 2016. Sri Lanka passed a domestic law criminalising enforced disappearances in 2018. However, human rights organizations have repeatedly stated that the transitional justice process of Sri Lanka falls far short of serving justice to the families. At the same time, the Office of Missing Persons and the Office of Reparations, established in 2017 and 2018 respectively, have fallen short of meaningful accountability.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan has a history of enforced disappearances spanning various regimes, including the People’s Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (PDPA) era in 1978 – 1992, the Mujahideen conflicts and civil war, and the ongoing de facto Taliban’s regime that came into power in 2021.
The PDPA period is particularly noted for its egregious record of enforced disappearances, with thousands vanishing simply for opposing the PDPA-led government. The Taliban’s emergence in 1996 – 2001 further intensified the crisis of enforced disappearances, with their rule marked by widespread crimes, especially against Hazara community.
The subsequent government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2002 – 2021), despite international support, could not curb the tide of enforced disappearances. Afghanistan included enforced disappearances in the Penal Code in 2017 yet, successive Afghan governments have largely failed to investigate or provide reparation for the victims and their families, with the situation remaining dire and largely unaddressed.
The Taliban’s return to power in 2021 has ushered in a new era of systematic disappearances, despite promises of amnesty.
Nepal
Nepal’s state of emergency from November 2001 to August 2002 marked an increased use of enforced disappearances with more than 1,300 cases of enforced disappearances. The UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) reported Nepal as having the highest number of new reported cases of enforced disappearance for the period of 2002 and 2003. The district of Banke, situated in mid-West of Nepal, became a grim epicenter, with detainees often held at Chisapani army barracks, a site notorious for torture. Comprehensive records from various organizations painted a bleak picture: the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) reported 931 enforced disappearances, the Internaitonal Committee of the Red Cross identified 1,347 missing persons, and the Commision of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) registered 3,223 complaints.
The pattern of disappearances primarily targeted those suspected of connections to the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-M), with individuals frequently taken by security personnel in civilian clothes to locations where they were held incommunicado, often leading to extrajudicial executions. Victims predominantly came from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, especially from indigenous groups like the Tharu, highlighting the conflict’s deep-rooted issues around land distribution, economic disenfranchisement, and political marginalization.
Efforts towards remedy and reparation have seen some progress, with Nepal’s constitution and subsequent legislation acknowledging the rights of victims of information, social rehabilitation, and compensation. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement and subsequent government initiatives have sought to provide relief and compensation to conflict-affected individuals, including monetary support and educational scholarships. However, the implementation of these measures has often been criticized for lacking clear guidelines for immediate relief.l
In a recent development, the CIEDP’s distribution of identity cards to victims and their families faced rejection, as the cards omitted crucial details such as the name of the disappeared person, and did not specify the reparations and subsidies that the card holders were entitled to.
India
In India, enforced disappearances have been a grave human rights issue for decades, largely associated with armed conflicts and counter-insurgency operations. They are often compounded by “fake encounter killings”, where security forces stage self-defence scenarios to justify extrajudicial killings.
At least 8,000 disappearances were recorded between 1989 and 2012 in Kashmir. In Punjab, around 8,000 people were reportedly disappeared between 1984 and 1995 as part of the state’s counter insurgency efforts. Manipur and the surrounding region in the north-east have seen enforced disappearances since the 1980s. In Chhattisgarh, the violence between the state sponsored ‘Salwa Judum’ (a vigilante group) and the Naxalite movement has led to civilans being forcibly abducted – especially when violence peaked between 2005 and 2007. In West Bengal, nearly 100 enforced disappearances have come to light, where low-caste villagers, suspected of smuggling and trafficking, are targeted. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) has highlighted India in its annual reports since mid 1980s.
The families of the disappeared are often met with intimidation, harassment and legal obstacles, including the requirement of government consent to pursue cases against state security forces under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) – and equivalent Act in Jammu Kashmir – which grants broad immunities and powers to the military.
Maldives
In the Maldives, the governance history has entrenched a culture of political repression, restricted free speech, and curtailed civil liberties. Reports of enforced disappearances and other human rights violations during the 2013-2018 regime highlight the challenges in investigating and holding those suspected of criminal responsibility accountable due to government control over the nation’s institutions. This pattern of repression extends to threats, violence against activists and journalists, and a stark lack of accountability and transparency in addressing these violations.
The most recent prominent case of enforced disappearance in the Maldives was of journalist and activist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, who vanished in August 2014 after tweeting about the unsafe conditions for journalists reporting on gangs and Islamists -symbolic of the ongoing threat to freedom of expression. Despite it being one case, it fostered a climate of fear, suggesting a nexus between gang members, some Islamist, and political figures aiming to suppress dissent, coupled with the government’s indifference to these dynamics.
The government that came into power in the Maldives in 2018 appointed “‘The Deaths and Disappearances Commission” in late 2019 which published a report into their investigation on Rilwan’s disappearance. However, the Commission had a mandate to investigate into 27 cases of disappearances, details of which have not been made public as of March 2024.
Bhutan
There is very limited information available in the public domain regarding human rights violations in Bhutan, especially on enforced disappearances. In the 1990s, Bhutan experienced significant political and social upheaval due to government policies aimed at national integration, privileging northern Bhutanese culture. These policies led to widespread human rights violations against the Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa population in southern Bhutan, resulting in arbitrary arrests, degrading treatment, and the forced exodus of over 70,000 people to Nepal. Several Bhutanese activists living in exile that Amnesty International spoke to, mentioned cases of enforced disappearances during this period, though data and statistics of the extent of the issue is unavailable.
Bhutan is yet to ratify the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and recognize the competence of the Enforced Disappearance Committee to receive and consider communications from or on behalf of victims and other states parties to the Treaty. Likewise, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has noted that there is one outstanding case of enforced disappearance registered with them, and the government of Bhutan is yet to investigate the case.
Decades of cases
What is Amnesty International doing to help?
Amnesty International is collaborating with more than 20 human rights organizations in South Asia. The stories featured on this page are based on the information provided by our partner organizations, verified in accordance with Amnesty International’ s guidelines.
In countries such as Afghanistan and India where state reprisals are severe and contacting families of the disappeared would put the families at greater risk, we have collected stories of the forcibly disappeared published in prominent media outlets. To safe guard the individuals and groups involved, meticulous care has been taken to anonymize sensitive information, ensuring that identities of affected families remain confidential as and when necessary.
Acknowledging the pervasiveness of enforced disappearances in the region, Amnesty International decided to focus just on one or two decades per country, except for Afghanistan, where outreach efforts have been implemented due to high security sisks and the details were collected without limiting to a decade.
It is important to mention that the collection of verified stories does not reflect the total number of the disappeared even within the selected decades.
To learn more about the project, you can watch the webinar recording from our event commemorating International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.