GENERAL APPEAL(Pakistan): State sanctioned attack on justices, lawyers and activists challenging the emergency

Dear friends,

In addition to what has been widely reported, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the plight of justices, lawyers and activists who had been unlawfully placed under house arrest and detained following the state of emergency in 3 November 2007. The justices and lawyers had been targeted to suppress any form of demonstration challenging the imposition of emergency rule. The justices who refused to take allegiance to the provisional constitution being proposed by President Pervez Musharraf have been under intense pressure.

Justices house padlocked; ailing children denied treatment

Forty-six court justices, including Chief Justice Iftekhar Choudhry of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, have continuously been placed under house arrest. Padlocks were placed on their houses by security forces. Chief Justice Choudhry could not even buy medicine for his seriously ill son, who required regular medication from a pharmacy, because the security forces guarding his place have prevented him from going out. Those inside the house are also not allowed to contact doctors to attend to the sick. They padlocked the doors inside and outside the house.

Another justice, Sardar Raza Khan, was also prevented from getting his seriously ill son the medical attention he required. SC justice Rana Bhagwandas, who has a heart ailment, has also not been allowed to go outside his house for his daily walk. Bhagwandas’s 2-year-old grandson, who is together with him inside the house, has been refused from going outside.

The son of Justice Sabih Uddin Ahmed of Sindh province has also been brutally beaten and arrested when he refused to take the oath on Provisional Constitution Order (PCO). Sources from the Pakistan Bar Council and other Bar Associations also indicate that other justices of Supreme Court and courts in different provinces who refused to take oath under the provisional constitution have been facing intense pressure from the military government. Other houses of justices had their supply of water cut off.

The siblings of justices, particular those who are lawyers, have also been arrested to put pressure on justices into taking the oath under provisional constitution. Justices were also prevented from entering their own courts.

Hundreds of lawyers attacked, arrested

On November 5, security forces brutally beat and used teargas against a crowd of lawyers holding demonstrations in different places in the country. Over 400 lawyers were injured, including women, and over 3,500 lawyers have already been arrested in the past three days since the emergency was imposed.

In Lahore City, Punjab, about 350 of the 1,700 lawyers in the province have already been arrested. In Karachi City, Sindh about 650 lawyers were arrested. In Balochistan province, about 250 lawyers were arrested, including those in the city of Quetta. In the North West Frontier, including in the city of Peshawar, about 300 lawyers were arrested. In Punjab, female lawyers are being detained even in toilets. The lawyers are kept in different jails, in bad conditions and are denied visits by their family members.

Arrest of human rights defender, journalists

Ms. Asma Jehangir, head of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Pakistan, has been placed under house arrest after the state of emergency was imposed. Jehangir is also the U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief. She will remain under arrest in the next three months under the public order ordinance. Reports indicate that security forces came to her house, surrounding it and told her she could not leave.

Jehangir’s arrest has effectively ceased the HRC from functioning independently, denying any remedies for victims of human rights violations. It has given the assurance of impunity to the security forces to whatever act of atrocities they have committed and would have to commit in the coming days as the emergency rule continues to take effect.

More than 15 journalists have also been arrested for covering news events, three of whom were brutally beaten and injured by security forces. The arrest of journalists is obviously aimed at suppressing the flow of information. It has become difficult to get information reflecting the real state of the Pakistani people in the country in recent days.

Reports of news event can only be viewed at media outlets operated and run by the government. Private and independent media institutions have been prevented from broadcasting as they were allowed to do before. Several television and radio stations have ceased to broadcast freely. Censorship on newspapers has prevented them from printing news and photographs critical of President Musharraf and his government.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

On November 3, President Musharraf imposed a state of emergency on the pretext of the escalating extremism in the country. He is also the chief of Pakistan’s army. He has suspended the Constitution and fundamental rights.

Soon after the emergency state was imposed, the military took over the Supreme Court of Pakistan building and arrested 75 justices. The first casualty of the emergency rule, however, is not the extremists but the justices, lawyers and the media. The justices and lawyers have recently been the target by the military government for being vocal in challenging President Musharraf’s government and for actions undermining the judiciary.

You can also read previous statements on this:

AS-223-2007: AHRC gravely concerned about the safety of lawyers and journalists

AS-171-2007: Historic verdict reinstates chief justice, challenges dictatorship

AS-167-2007: AHRC condemns the attack at the venue of the meeting at which the Chief Justice was to speak and calls for an inquiry into the incident

AS-122-2007: AHRC condemns arrests of campaigners in support of the Chief Justice in Punjab

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to authorities demanding for the unconditional release of justices, lawyers, activists and others who are placed under house arrest and in detention under the state of emergency. The welfare of the ailing persons requiring regular medication must be ensured. The families of the detainees must be allowed visits.

Please also write letters to your own government, embassies and consulates of Pakistan in your country expressing grave concern on the targeted attack on justices, lawyers, activists and demanding for the lifting of state of emergency.

You may consider this sample letter below as template in writing letters to the concerned government authorities.

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