Lahore: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is seriously concerned to learn that at least four Pashtun workers have been forcibly disappeared following the bomb blast that occurred in Anarkali, Lahore, on 20 January.

According to HRCP’s sources, two persons were disappeared from near Lahore Railway Station on 22 January – it has taken almost ten days for their families or friends to file an FIR against the incident. Another Pashtun worker was disappeared after persons in civilian clothes raided his flat in the early hours of 26 January.

Yet another Pashtun worker was forced to exit the rickshaw he was traveling in and taken away, again by persons in civilian clothing. No arrest warrants were issued and their friends and relatives have been unable to establish their whereabouts. In the latter two cases, the police have refused to issue an FIR.

This has become a worryingly familiar pattern, with four Baloch students similarly detained without charge during raids on 22 January in connection with the Anarkali blast and then released. We demand that all four be located and their right to physical integrity and dignity of person guaranteed. If they or indeed anyone – are to be detained at all, then law enforcement personnel are duty-bound to follow procedure and clearly indicate on what charge they have been detained and where they are being held.