VP/HR — The forced disappearance of Pakistani human rights defender Mohammad Nawaz Atta

16.11.2017

Question for written answer P-007079-17
to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 130
Julie Ward (S&D)

Mohammad Nawaz Atta is a human rights defender and the Information Secretary of the Baloch Human Rights Organisation, which monitors and campaigns against human rights violations in Balochistan. He has advocated against the systematic use of enforced disappearances by Pakistani security forces as a strategy to silence independent voices, a practice that has become widespread.

On 28 October 2017, men reportedly in plainclothes and ranger uniforms raided Atta’s house in Karachi and took him away in a ranger vehicle. Eight young family members living in the region were similarly abducted. As of early November, Atta’s whereabouts remain unknown, and he is being held incommunicado.

1. What will the EU and the Member States do to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of Atta and his family and guarantee their security and safety?

2. Will the EU push for the Pakistani authorities to carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into Atta’s disappearance, as well as that of his family, and of all human rights defenders who have been abducted?

3. What action will the EEAS and the Member States take to ensure that disappearances in Pakistan stop, and that human rights defenders are able to do their work free from threats?