Statement

Murad Khan Marri, who remained incommunicado for nine months and was brought into the limelight by the Frontier Corp (FC), being arrested for the murder of Chinese engineers; for carrying Indian currencies and for keeping explosive material, has again disappeared while in the custody of FC. According to the details, Colonel Asad Shehzad Khatak of […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-060-2010 April 12, 2010 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PAKISTAN: The AHRC welcomes the formation of a Commission to probe missing persons’ cases The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the formation of a Commission by the government of Pakistan to probe cases of missing persons. The three-member Commission would […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission joins other concerned groups and individuals around the world to condemn the blocking in Thailand of 36 websites. The websites were blocked under a state of emergency that the unelected Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, declared on 7 April 2010 in response to continued protests in Bangkok. Most of the 36 […]

One of the basic prerequisites of a fair election is that agencies exist which are responsible for settling disputes that arise before, during and afterwards. These disputes take many forms, and are a normal part of electoral politics. It is essential that well-prepared institutions can address these disputes within rules that are clearly set down […]

On 6 January Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin was appointed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the position of deputy defence minister. Sjarfie was the Jakarta military commander during the last years of Surhato’s rule in 1997 and is widely believed to be responsible for the still unexplained forced disappearances of 23 student activists. One of […]

The Union Cabinet of the government of India will today discuss about introducing a domestic law criminalising torture in the country. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes the move and finds it as an encouraging opportunity for the law enforcement agencies, civil society organisations and for the general public to participate in local and […]

Three more Ahmadis, including two brothers, were killed for their religious belief in target killings by unknown persons in Faisalabad city, a province of Punjab. This year so far, five Ahmadis have been killed whereas in the year 2009 eleven Ahmadis were murdered in target killings. Police have yet to investigate the incidents of killings. […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-055-2010 April 7, 2010 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission INDIA: Maoists will not save the country’s poor The Maoists operating in India ambushed and killed 74 Central Reserve Police (CRPF) officers in Mukhrana of Dandewada district in Chhattisgarh state early yesterday morning. The success of the Maoist operation is […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission expresses its shock at the most . On March 22, 2010 a mob which arrived on a bus attacked the Sirasa TV building with stones. The crowd came well prepared for this attack and continued it for some time. Sirasa TV is one of the most well-known media institutions in […]

Mr. Anoop Mishra, Madhya Pradesh state Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare said in the state legislative assembly on 8 March that 30,000 children under the age of five die of malnutrition every year in the state. The shocking admission by the minister about the state government’s criminal neglect in addressing the need of […]

A battalion of the Pakistan Army has grabbed the land of old villages of the coastal area of Karachi, the capital of Sindh province. The fisher folk have been forced out of their ancestor villages and pressurised to leave the area. In a latest event Battalion 42 of army, stationed at Karachi, has grabbed the […]

Pakistan claims to provide a universal right to vote to all its citizens, which proves to be contradictory to the facts. Indeed, the members of the Ahmadi community have been denied this fundamental right. The shameful regulations implemented against Ahmadis are in violation of the 1973 Pakistani Constitution and the process of democracy itself. Right […]

The banning of books by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and the withdrawal of movies by the Film Censorship Board (LSF) in the name of public order and state unity are unacceptable, as they contribute to the culture of impunity in Indonesia and are a serious attack on the freedom of expression. Without discussing human […]

Mr. Debiprasad Jena, Supervisor of the Soil Conservation Department (Machhkund) allegedly misappropriated INR 49,490 (USD 1000) from 16 workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which aims at ensuring the right to work and food security of all in India. After pressure by the victims and human rights groups, Mr. Jena on 10 […]

The AHRC is deeply concerned about violence against civilians during anti-terrorist operations in Aceh. On February 23, a civilian was killed and another severely injured while the police arrested four alleged terrorists. During another crackdown on March 3, a suspect was shot dead. This raises the issue of strong police and military presence in Aceh […]

While the military regime in Burma has iterated that it will hold a general election for a new legislature before the end of 2010, government officials have been relentlessly pursuing, intimidating and imprisoning political opponents. In recent weeks the Asian Human Rights Commission has issued appeals on a number of such cases, including the sentencing […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission reliably understands that there is a move to arrest and detain J.C. Weliamuna, the chairperson of Transparency International in Sri Lanka (TISL) on fabricated charges. During the last few weeks there have been several media attempts on the part of the government to make insinuations against the Sri Lankan branch […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-043-2010 March 8, 2010 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PAKISTAN: Religious minority groups have nothing to celebrate on International Day on Women Although this is a day to celebrate the rights that women have acquired throughout the years we must bear in mind the efforts that still have to […]

International Women’s Day–2010 Today the world is looking to women for change in what remains a situation that offends human rights on a daily basis. In its work as a listener and voice to claims of human rights violations, the Asian Human Rights Commission regularly quotes statistics such as in Madhya Pradesh, India, 67% of […]

Despite the Pakistani government’s few efforts to improve the women’s situation, physical and sexual violence, honour killings, forced marriages and structural inequalities within the society still make Pakistan one of the worst countries in the world in terms of gender gap according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2009 . Pakistan is at […]