It has been exactly one year since Fareeda Baluch last heard about the whereabouts of her brother Rashid Hussain.
A human rights activist and a "strong voice for all the oppressed people" of Pakistan's Balochistan province who raised voice against enforced disappearances, Hussain, as per Fareeda, was abducted in UAE on December 26, 2018.
While his family remained clueless about the exact reason for his arrest, on January 17, 2019, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions <a href="https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=24297">wrote</a> to the UAE government saying "we would like to bring to the attention of your Excellency’s Government information we have received concerning Mr. Rashid Hussain Brohi, a Pakistani national who is forcibly disappeared and at risk of being deported from the United Arab Emirates back to Pakistan, where his life would be at risk. Mr. Brohi was the subject of a communication under the Working Group’s urgent procedure on 3 January 2019, to which no response has yet been received."
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Hussain was seen handcuffed and in custody of 15 gunmen and officers in plain clothes.
Fareeda and many in Balochistan believed he was deported to Pakistan a few months later. His whereabouts remain unknown since then.
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">According to UAE immigration Rashid was deported to Pakistan by a private jet from Bateen Airport on 22 June 2019 and shifted to Nushki Balochistan.
On 3 July 2019 Pakistani media announced his arrest that Rashid Hussain was moved to Pakistan through Interpol. <a href="https://t.co/27JbcgzDlU">pic.twitter.com/27JbcgzDlU</a></p>
— Fareeda Baluch (@Farida_Baluch) <a href="https://twitter.com/Farida_Baluch/status/1250789650077229064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Protests and rallies were organized from Balochistan to Bristol and also in other parts of the world Monday as full 12 months were completed since Hussain's alleged deportation to Pakistan happened.
"Rashid Hussain is a human right activist who was abducted on Dec 26, 2018 in UAE and he was extradited on this day in 2019 from UAE to Pakistan. The international community must fulfil their humanitarian obligation and bring him to his family. #ReleaseRashidHussain," tweeted one activist.
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">On this day, The UAE plunged a HR activist into danger, plunged a mother’s hope of tomorrow into the darkness, plunged a sweetheart of siblings into Pakistani torture cells. Let’s raise your significant voice to take out this entire family into this torment. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ReleaseRashidHussain?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ReleaseRashidHussain</a> <a href="https://t.co/KC9oTpgrvg">pic.twitter.com/KC9oTpgrvg</a></p>
— Aftab Baloch (@AftabBaloch_) <a href="https://twitter.com/AftabBaloch_/status/1275031551898779648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2020</a></blockquote>
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"Rashid's illegal arrest and extradition to Pakistan is a violation of human values and international law. Article 3 of the International Convention states that no one shall be deported to a country where he is in danger of being tortured or killed," wrote another.
Appealing for Hussain's release was also a 10-year-old Mahzaib Baloch, his niece.
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Rashid Hussain's Niece Mahzaib Baloch is appealing for the safe recovery of Rashid Hussain.who was abducted by <a href="https://twitter.com/UAE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UAE</a> intelligence agencies and later deported to pakistan still his whereabouts are unknown…<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ReleaseRashidHussain?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ReleaseRashidHussain</a> <a href="https://t.co/qH5n03fdL3">pic.twitter.com/qH5n03fdL3</a></p>
— Mahran Baloch (@mahranbaloch_) <a href="https://twitter.com/mahranbaloch_/status/1275046977932328960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2020</a></blockquote>
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As has been widely reported last month, despite several requests, a UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) has not been allowed to visit Pakistan to investigate the cases of extra judicial detentions.
Luciano A. Hazan, the Working Group Rapporteur, had revealed in an interaction with a delegation of the World Sindhi Congress (WSC) that a formal request to visit the country was sent to Pakistan in November 2019 with a follow-up reminder in April 2020 but the WGEID has "not yet received a positive reply" from the Government of Pakistan..
