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Posts tagged with: Human Rights
Jun 5, 2009    |       22 comments

IDP Crisis: A tragedy of errors and Cover-ups – HRCP

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has published a very comprehensive report on the IDP situation in NWFP titled A tragedy of errors and Cover-ups:The IDPs and outcome of military actions in FATA and Malakand Division its quite a comprehensive report. I have taken the liberty to extract some critical sections which caught my attention, but I would strongly suggest people to read the entire report at the HRCP Blog

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is convinced that the cost of the insurgency in the Malakand Division has been increased manifold by the shortsightedness and indecisiveness of the non-representative institutions and their policy of appeasing the militants and cohorting with them. While the ongoing military operation had become unavoidable, it was not adopted as a measure of the last resort. Further, the plight of the internally displaced people has been aggravated by lack of planning and coordination by the agencies concerned, and the methods of evacuation of towns/villages and the arrangements for the stranded people have left much to be desired.

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May 14, 2009    |       4 comments

UK Border Agency deports a Pakistani National to Afghanistan

Passport of Pakistani Irfan Faisal - deported from UK to AfghanistanA young Pakistani born and bred in village Dhok Gangaal, Post Office Adiala, Tehsil & District Rawalpindi, Irfan Faisal son of Multan Khan who was born on 5 December 1978 holding a machine readable Pakistani passport number AC8911731 which was issued by Rawalpindi office on 12 September 2005 and is valid until 11 September 2010 holding a Pak identity card number 37405-6422173-1 was wrongfully deported to Afghanistan by UK Border Agency. He was deported on mistaken identity by UK Border Agency without making enquiries about his identity whilst at all times his record was available at British Embassy Islamabad.

31 years old Pakistani national came to UK lawfully as a visitor after obtaining a visa which was valid from 25/11/2005 to 25/05/2006. He overstayed his visa and made several claims wrongly or rightly and exhausted all avenues to stay in UK. He may have been an overstayer but not an Afghan national. Afghanistan Govt quietly accepted his deportation and entry to Afghanistan whilst British Embassy in Islamabad at all timers had his record, picture, finger prints and whereabouts.
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May 6, 2009    |       5 comments

Women to Reclaim Public Spaces – A Seminar by WAF

A Programme of Defiance & Resistance

by the Womens Action Forum

Karachi Press Club
8th May, 2009, 5:30 – 7:30pm

Womens Action Forums invites you to a programme highlighting the implications of Talibanisation for women, artists, and minorities in particular, and to our country in general. The Talibans have created terror through slaughtering of people, bomb blasts, kidnappings, and destruction of properties which has led to severe restrictions on women, and displacements of thousands of people from their homes. It seems their militancy has encouraged some men and women in some urban centers of Pakistan to admonish and threaten women on their mode of dress and their presence in public places. This is a deliberate strategy to purge public spaces of women’s presence.
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Apr 29, 2009    |       4 comments

Protest Demo Against the Feudalism in Khaskheli

Today 28 April a protest demonstration was held against Sanghars influential feudal lord Waryam Faqeer by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) Karachi. JAC is a compilations of many civil society organizations, LPP, AP, PILER, HRCP. Shirkat Gah, Aurat Foundation, Takleeq Foundation, etc. The protesters demonstrated for arrest of feudal Waryam Faqeer and appealed to the government to return the land to the native villagers of Goth Mohammed Essa Khaskheli.

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Apr 29, 2009    |       8 comments

The Forthcoming Horror in Swat

This is an update on the Swat situation which was posted onto the Peoples Resistance Mailing List by Dr. Riaz Ahmed on 24th April [three days back]. I believe this analysis is worth reading and understanding the ground reality from the people in swat and their concerns surrounding Sufi Mohammad and the possible incursions by the Pakistan Army. Its good to keep into perspective the ground reality merely to balance the propaganda that keeps blasting away across the media
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Apr 23, 2009    |       78 comments

ABC: Torture Tape implicates UAE Sheikh

I seriously don’t know how to react, on one hand we here in Pakistan are fighting a battle against the illiterate Talibans who continue on their rampage of brutality releasing video after video of flogging, beheadings and even suicide bombings, but it shocks me to watch the ‘educated’ stoop exactly to the same level, now the question is who do you stop? Educate the uneducated or uneducate the educated

Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, brother of the UAE’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed al Nahyan, has been caught on camera by ABC News where a UAE policeman assists the Sheikh in tying the victim’s arms and legs, later holding him down as the Sheikh pours salt on the man’s wounds, subsequently the Sheikh shoots at the victim and then later drives over him with his Mercedes SUV.
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Apr 21, 2009    |       18 comments

Death of a student at LUMS

Today at LUMS, 3 students went out of the gates and were smashed into by a drunk driver in a Pajero. One student, Waheeb Alam, has been pronounced dead, another has suffered major injuries, while the third one is relatively OK [Muhammad Majid & Sohaib Tariq]. As usual, the hospital had to deny medical aid to the critically injured student initially as it was a “police case”. The teachers and students at LUMS have protested, and rightly so, and classes were canceled for the day at LUMS.

Almost half the student body of LUMS protested at the crime scene all day today. The protestors included members of the LUMS faculty and administration, including the VC. After calling to attention the police’s attempts to prevent the registration of the FIR, conceal evidence and withhold the blood reports of the accused, the protestors were visited by Saad Rafique, the PML-N MNA from the constituency, who assured them, on behalf of the CM Punjab, that the perpetrators would be brought to justice in a transparent investigation.
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Apr 10, 2009    |       19 comments

Baluchistan, a golden goose that could have been

Guest Blog by Insouciant

Baluchistan, which earned the status of a separate province only in 1970, comprises of 44% of the land of Pakistan. Buried with vast resources of natural gas, copper and gold, it has a unique geo-political importance in the region. The landlocked Afghanistan and energy rich Central Asia is in its north, Iran and its fourth world’s largest oil reserves is in its West, and Strait of Hormuz – through which 40% of the world’s oil passes – only few hundred miles away lies in the South-West. One would wonder with this geography the area could have been developed as the energy corridor for the region, yet the province has been exploited in the name of federation for decades.

The dams that have been built, the Gwadar port that started functioning recently, and the gas fields that fire the kitchens of the rest of the country hold no meaning and no promises for the locals. To a Baloch development means dispossession, exploitation, migration, cattle never changing into motorcars, gidans never changing into houses and thumb expressions never into signatures.
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Apr 4, 2009    |       39 comments

Protests in Karachi & Lahore against the Flogging incident

Peoples' ResistanceA number of protests are being organized across the country to condemn the flogging incident in SWAT where a young woman was flogged in public for being seen with another man on the street

KARACHI
Labor Party Pakistan & Peoples Resistance
LOCATION: Press Conference and protest at Karachi Press Club
TIME: 4:00pm on Saturday 4th April – I
RSVP at the Karachi Facebook Event Page

LAHORE
Student Action Committee
LOCATION: Starting from GPO Chowk to Charing Cross, Mall Road Lahore.
TIME: at 4:30pm on Saturday 4th April
RSVP at the Lahore Facebook event page

Feb 12, 2009    |       129 comments

No Honor in Killing – Making Visible Buried Truth

No honor in KillingThis is an art exhibition of 5 victims of the brutal Nasirabad honor killings it is an attempt to keep tehir memory alive via art and dialogue and seek justice for these women whose murder outrages teh entire nation

Art Exhibition and Dialogue
‘No Honor in Killing, Making Visible Buried Truth’

Location: Benazir Gallery
Institute of Art and Design, Sindh University, Jamshoro
Date: Friday Feb 13, 2009
Time: 10.30 to 12 noon

Feb 10, 2009    |       39 comments

Mukhtar Mai being pressured by Federal Minister to drop case

Mukhtar MaiMukhtar Mai is due to appear in the Supreme Court of Pakistan tomorrow on 11th February for a hearing on her outstanding case. Since a few days reports have been emerging that she was under pressure from high level authorities to drop the case, specifically Federal Defence Production Minister Abdul Qayyum Jatoi elected from Muzaffargarh to drop the case and maybe even not appear in court.

Just now members of the Aurat Foundation, a womens rights watch group, have talked to Mukhtar Mai and she in turn has confirmed the reports of high level pressures to have been true. The womens rights groups have urged Mukhtar Mai to stay resolute and proceed to Islamabad for the hearing with full support to be extended to ensure her safety and perusal of the case

Mukhtar Mai is from the village of Meerwala, in the tehsil of Jatoi of the Muzaffargarh District. Mukhtar Mai suffered a gang rape [BBC Timeline] as a form of honour revenge, on the demands of tribesmen on the orders of a panchayat of a local Mastoi Baloch clan that was richer and more powerful than Mukhtaran’s clan, the Gujjar Tatla.

Feb 9, 2009    |       45 comments

The Oppressed Have Become the Oppressors

After the downfall of Nazi Germany, the German people “washed their hands” of any complicity in the Jewish extermination camps by pleading ignorance. Lower rank German soldiers excused themselves by saying that they were only following military orders! Today, in the Holy Land, the Zionist Jews, with the support of the majority of Israel’s population are themselves perpetuating a holocaust against the Palestinian people. After the bodies are counted and the atrocities documented, how will the Jews excuse themselves for committing these crimes against humanity?

It is collective punishment of a people and the murder of hundreds of Palestinian children and women is a policy of genocide!

Location: Jewish Holocaust (1941-1945) vs Palestinian Holocaust (1948…NOW!)

Credit: Facebook Salam J’s Album

Jan 24, 2009    |       19 comments

Support the release of Israeli Shministim’s

Shministim – are 16, 17, 18 and 19 year old students studying in the 12th grade – these are a new breed of conscientious objectors in Israel and right now they are taking a stand. They believe in a better, more peaceful future for themselves and for Israelis and Palestinians, and they are refusing to join the Israeli army. They’re in jail, holding strong against immense pressure from family, friends and the Israeli government.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNjggLhQo6w[/youtube]
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Jan 24, 2009    |       74 comments

Baluchi women in military torture cells, sexual slavery, Musharraf accused

Asian Human Rights Commission has in early January published a report which reveals a shocking trend in Baluchistan, women who have been struggling for the greater autonomy of Baluchistan have been arrested by state agencies and have been forced into sex slavery under the custody of the Pakistan Army.

AHRC had earlier also published another report accusing General Pervaiz Musharraf of running these military torture cells during his tenure. The report initially originates from a Baluchistan Liberation Front activist Munir Mengal who in 2006 was trying to launch a Baluchi TV channel but as coincidence would have it, the Pakistan Army was dead-set in uprooting the Baluchi uprising which resulted in the assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

The report can be read in its entirety on the AHRC’s website but a few shocking sections are reproduced here. A close look at the incidents that have been quoted range from 2005 to 2007, the Musharraf era. Though we cant be sure that if these cells still do exists or have been dismantled at the fall of military dictatorship in February 2008, and sincerely hope that such heinous crimes are not still being orchestrated by our democratic government. But it seems that Ms. Zarina Marri is still missing and suspected to be held hostage against her free will.
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