Statement

What if some one says that and asks you to disprove it?  Or, if a whole society or even a large part of it begins to believe in fact that two and two is five.  This may be dismissed by some as pure fantasy.  However, in many matters regarding society, particularly in matters relating to […]

Thirty nine (39) persons, mostly young people, remain missing after arrest during ; their whereabouts are unknown to their families. The state intelligence agencies are still operative in arbitrarily arresting people, keeping them in custody for several months and torturing them to confess their involvement in crimes against the state. After the general elections of […]

Gerarld Perera was a torture victim recognized by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.  Attorney General filed action against 6 police officers for the torture of Gerald Perera.  A week before Gerald Perera was to give evidence before court , he was assassinated while travelling by bus.  The purpose of this assassination was to prevent […]

The Pakistan Rangers, a Pakistan army’s organization, has severely beaten and abused a professor of Karachi on the question of his identity. Dr. Riaz Ahmed, Assistant professor of  Applied Chemistry department of University of Karachi,  was maltreated and beaten with fists and boots and dragged up to two meters by the officials of Pakistan Rangers […]

The announcement by the IIGEP of the ending of their involvement in the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Alleged Serious Violations of Human Rights came yesterday (31st March). A day later, the Jaffna-based University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR J) issued a report naming the perpetrators of the killings of the […]

According to recent press reports about 79 persons, both from the political arena and law enforcement agencies were killed in Karachi, Sindh province, during this month alone (March), when the assemblies of the different provinces are under the process of their installations. The media is terming these killings as ‘target killings’ which started just after […]

Between 22 and 27 March, two dead bodies were kept at the Kolkata Police Mortuary waiting for an inquest. The two persons, Mr. Paran Molla and Mr. Mohammad Shamim, reportedly died while in the custody of the state government authorities in West Bengal. Paran died at Kasipur Police Station and Mohammad at the Presidency Central […]

A man, who alleged that he was severely beaten up by the police after he refused to pay a bribe of three valuable gems, was granted leave to proceed in a fundamental rights application by the Supreme Court. He complained that his rights guaranteed under the Constitution to be protected from illegal arrest, illegal detention […]

From March 18 to 22, seven alleged criminals were killed, including a 16-year-old boy, in separate shooting incidents reportedly perpetrated by men riding on motorcycles in General Santos City. The police and the city’s mayor quickly announced that the killings could have been the result of a conflict within the group of criminals themselves given […]

“Except for the crime in question, Mr. R. K. Sharma was an asset to the nation…” The national media in India reported that this observation was made by the Additional Sessions Judge Mr. Rajendra Kumar Shastri on 18 March 2008 while delivering his judgment in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case. Justice Shastri was the trial […]

In one of his two latest reports to the UN Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar (Burma) has written that: “The Special Rapporteur is seriously concerned at the continued misuse of the legal system [in Burma] which denies the rule of law and represents a major obstacle to securing the effective and meaningful […]

The relatives of disappeared and missing persons in Pakistan will observe the Day of Missing People on March 23, 2008, a national day in commemoration of a Pakistani resolution adopted in 1940 in the united India. On this day the relatives persons will hold protests with the photographs of the missing persons, hold seminars and […]

A few suggestions to remove ambiguities from the AHRC History is being made in the National Assembly of Pakistan. The Speaker was elected and the debates have already begun. True to the pledge given to the voters to restore the chief justice and all the other judges who were ousted, a resolution has already been […]

In 1991, a law creating the People’s Law Enforcement Board (Pleb), an external disciplining mechanism of policemen, was enacted. Its board members, who have the power to conduct summary hearings of cases of administrative complaints against policemen, are all civilians. The board’s composition was deliberately devised to empower civilians to become involved in disciplining members […]

A young woman of 18 years was abducted and gang raped continuously over a period of three days by the guards employed at the mausoleum of Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Father of the Nation, known as “Mazar e Quide”. A guard has been arrested without proper identification as the victim is still semi-conscious. This […]

Following a spate of well-orchestrated attacks on individuals, properties, mosques and schools of the Ahmadiah sect, and demands by several Islamic organizations to the President of Indonesia to have it banned, Ahmadiahan leaders issued a statement containing “12 points of explanations”. The 12 points included among other matters, an acknowledgment of Prophet Muhammad as the […]

The last few days saw developments in trade union protests against the attacks on employees of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC). Ever since the incident that was provoked by Minister Mervyn Silva’s attack on some employees of the SLRC many attacks have been made on persons who participated in the protesting against the minister’s […]

The taking of oaths by members of parliament on March 17th marks an important moment in the struggle against the military dictatorship which has caused a state of anarchy in Pakistan. Legally speaking, there is now a parliament to give leadership to the people and to make the necessary decisions in order to achieve stability […]

The police in Davao City arrested three men suspected of robbery and a few days later, on March 14, they were presented to the city’s mayor, Rodrigo Duterte in the presence of the local press and television crews. The suspects, their faces exposed to the cameras were dressed in the orange shirts worn by convicts […]

On 13 March, the Bangladesh Government’s spokespersons made their official comments on the human rights report published by the Department of State of the government of the United States of America. The Bangladesh authorities’ reaction was published in most of the national daily newspapers the following day. According to a report which appeared in The Daily […]