Statement

An eight-member Supreme Court bench headed by Abdul Hameed Dogar on November 6 overruled a seven-judge decision that had struck down the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) which suspended the constitution of Pakistan when General Pervez Musharaff declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on November 3. Consider the fantastic irony. A court with no constitutional […]

Since the government of General Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency, suspended the constitution and blacked out the media on November 3, it has launched a massive operation to detain virtually anyone deemed a threat to military authority, making plain its real plans for the immediate future. The scale and scope of the detentions […]

We reproduce below the second of a series of five cases researched on the basis of the information collected by the Asian Human Rights Commission in the past years reflecting the type of issues faced by persons who, having become victims of crime or abuse of rights faced extraordinarily repressive conditions when they sought redress. […]

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and its sister organization the Asian Human Rights Commission welcome the proposed visit by the Special Rapporteur for Torture, Dr. Manfred Novak. It comes at a time when the country is stuck in limbo, unable to decide whether to abide by the international standards on human rights or to […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AS-257-2007 November 05, 2007 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PAKISTAN: Appeal to the international community to take a firm stand for democracy and human rights The imposition of a state of emergency by the military government of Pakistan on November 3, 2007, is nothing less than the thinly disguised imposition of martial law.  […]

movement On 30 October 2007, the Constitutional Court of Indonesia read out its verdict on the constitutional review of the Narcotics Law that provides for the death penalty in several articles. The court ruled that capital punishment in cases of drug trafficking is not unconstitutional and does not violate the constitutional right to life. The […]

The government of General Musharraf is planning to amend the Army Act of 1952 empowering the state intelligence agencies to keep suspected persons in custody as long as they require without producing them before courts. According to the media reports, which were substantiated by the high officials of ministry of defense and law, an amendment […]

Representatives of several human rights organizations in Pakistan have visited the hospitals where hundreds of victims of the October 18 are being treated. The bomb blasts occurred during the welcoming procession of Benazir Bhutto, Chairperson of Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP). One of the purposes of the visit by the human rights groups was to prepare […]

We reproduce below the first of a series of five cases researched on the basis of the information collected by the Asian Human Rights Commission in the past years reflecting the type of issues faced by persons who, having become victims of crime or abuse of rights faced extraordinarily repressive conditions when they sought redress. […]

Ms. Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and Chairperson of Pakistan People’s Party, after returning Pakistan from self exile of seven years, is holding mammoth gatherings and welcoming receptions in her new election campaign, with large contingents of armed persons who make no effort to conceal their weapons. During October 18, at her welcoming reception at […]

In the Mount Livinia Chief Magistrate’s Court a journalist from the Sunday Leader, who was arrested on the strength of a telephone call made by a minister, was granted bail by the Chief Magistrate. The magistrate is reported to have reprimanded the officers of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) for making the arrest in this […]

On October 22, 2007 the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received a communication from the government of Kerala in India. The communication, in the form of a letter, dated September 9, 2007 prepared on behalf of the Additional Chief Secretary to the government informs the AHRC that if the AHRC is concerned about incidents of […]

In the light of the decision by the Pakistan government to remove one of its leading investigators from the well known Karachi bomb blast case, the Asian Human Rights Commission also urges that the investigation into the murder of Mr. Faraz Ahmed Naveed should also be removed from this officer for the same reasons of […]

The police officers who were involved in torturing eight persons of Pir Jo Goth, Khairpur district, Sindh, in their custody at three different police stations are enjoying impunity two months after the constituting of an inquiry committee, as the Additional Session Judge, Khaipur is on leave. The Sindh police are also threatening the victim’s families […]

16 years ago today, the Cambodian warring factions representing their country and 17 concerned countries, including Cambodia’s neighbours, other Asian countries and western countries, gathered in Paris, France, to sign, in the presence of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, a set of agreements to end the war in Cambodia. All the 18 State signatories […]

On the night of October 18, 2007, two blasts occurred at the welcoming procession of thousands of people, arranged for arrival of Benazir Bhutto, the Chairperson of the Pakistan People Party, after her self exile of eight years. More than 130 people were killed and about 550 injured. The government of Pakistan claims that the […]

On the 27th October the day for the disappeared will be commemorated by the Families of the Disappeared and Right to Life together with the Asian Human Rights Commission. The monument for the disappeared was established at Raddoluwa Seeduwa, near Negombo in the year 2000 as a symbol of the disappearances which have become a […]

Quite regularly reports appear in the press of persons in police custody, having tried to attack the police with grenades or other weapons, being shot dead. The Gampaha police are reported to have killed two persons who, while in a police cell, tried to escape. These two persons were arrested regarding an attempted bank robbery […]

Last week, almost exactly on the same day, two victims of crime expressed in public their fear of their attackers long after the offences had taken place. The first one was Ms Chem Sopheap, 35, a vendor of sugar cane juice in Phnom Penh. She had to go into hiding upon the news that her […]

The following is a reply to a report published on October 12, 2007 in The Official Website of the Sri Lankan Government’s Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process, written by the Secretary General, Rajiva Wijesinha, My comments in some previous columns regarding Cambodia and Nepal seem to have appeared dangerous to Rajiva Wijesinha, who seems […]