Impunity

PAKISTAN: Investigation into a physician’s murder kept on hold by the Sindh government

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is repelled that the Sindh government has kept on hold the investigation into the wounding of political activists and the assassination of a physician during local body elections. Nationalist forces of Sindh province accuse agents of “invisible forces” for the doctor’s murder. They are responsible for the […]

BANGLADESH: Government and Justice Institutions owe explanations about enforced disappearances

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission and the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) calls for the return of all disappeared persons to their families. The government of Bangladesh must tell the whereabouts of the disappeared persons, and respond […]

AHRC TV: JUST ASIA, Episode 101

This week world leaders met in Paris to kick off a two-week climate change summit, a meeting some say will determine the future viability of human civilisation on our planet. Just Asia looks at the implications for Asia from a human rights perspective. Next, Just Asia reports on the violent arrests of Papuans during peaceful […]

INDIA: Soft loans for sugar barons, suicide for farmers

Avinash Pandey By 30 June 2015, 1300 farmers had killed themselves in Maharashtra, according to the state government’s own admission, with half of the year still to go. The ongoing drought in Marathwada was supposed to deepen the crisis, which it did, with the toll reaching 997 there alone by 30 November 2015. The total […]

PAKISTAN: Ahmadi pesh imam cut by blades amidst ongoing attacks

In the continuity of attacks on the Ahmadi community in Pakistan, Mr. Najeeb Ahmed, pesh imam (leader) of the Sarai Alamgir mosque was punished by unknown Muslim fundamentalists with sharp shaving blades in Gujrat district, Punjab province. On December 1, as Mr. Ahmed entered his house, he was pounced upon, his clothes were removed and […]

PAKISTAN: HRCP alarmed by Pak opposition to UN resolution for rights defenders

A Press Release from Human Rights Commission of Pakistan forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Lahore, December 1: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed its alarm and serious dismay over Pakistan voting last week against a United Nations General Assembly resolution that called for recognising the role of human rights […]

INDIA: Droughts don’t wait for ‘official declaration’.

Statement | India | 02-12-2015

More than 100 farmers have reportedly committed suicide in Uttar Pradesh, one of the most impoverished states in India, because of a hailstorm that destroyed their crops. The situation will only worsen with 50 of 75 districts being hit by a severe drought. Despite having evidence of the drought, the provincial government took two and […]

PAKISTAN: Stop state sponsored malicious hate campaign against PILER

The Pakistan Institute of Labour Research and Education (PILER), a non-profit organization, and a partner of the Asian Human Rights Commission, is being targeted in a smear campaign. This is being done by the “invisible forces” inside Pakistan, through a certain TV chanel, the content of which is aired by other television channels. As a […]

INDIA: Let’s talk about marital rape but wait…the criminal justice system is not equipped for such a thing!

Article | India | 30-11-2015

Emarine Kharbhih The Ministry of Home Affairs stated in the parliament that India is not ready for a marital rape law since it will “break the institution of marriage”. According to a study done by the International Centre for Women and the United Nations Population Fund, 57.5 per cent of men agree that a wife […]

PAKISTAN: Mullahs continue destruction of Ahmadi Muslim Mosques and properties

The world had hardly come to terms with the shock and horror of the burning down of a chipboard factory by an enraged mob led by misanthropic mullahs when news has emerged of another attack. This time an Ahmadi Muslim mosque in Kala Gujram, not far from the chipboard factory, has been targeted. The local […]

PAKISTAN: New wave of attacks, abduction, rape and forced conversion of Christians

Courtessy from daily Pakistan Freedom of religion is a fundamental right that exists only on paper in Pakistan. Each year thousands of Christians, forming 13% of the total population, suffer at the hands of religious bigots who use blasphemy as an excuse to ruin their life. Christian girls are increasingly being forced to convert to Islam. According […]

INDIA: Where drought is just another ‘file noting’

Statement | India | 25-11-2015

Telangana, yesterday, finally acknowledged that 231 out of 443 of its rural mandals (sub-districts) are hit by drought. This was not a sudden realization by the state, the 9th Indian state to get hit by drought this year. Their agricultural department knew that a ‘drought like’ situation was prevailing in Mahabubnagar, Medak, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Court denied bail five times to a seriously-ill detainee

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received updated information on a man arrested over a Facebook post allegedly defaming the military. He is suffering from a serious health condition in Insein Prison. He has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the prison hospital since 27 October 2015. His advocate has […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: An end to sham politics

The results of the 2015 general election held on November 8 in Burma, or Myanmar, have slammed the door shut on the sham politics of the last five years. Gone are the days of a concocted legislature comprising for the most part of yes-men and sleepy heads. With this election, people in Burma have not […]

AHRC TV: Weekly Roundup, Episode 99

AHRC TV opens with some good news from Sri Lanka, where the Cabinet has approved the President’s proposal to abolish the Executive Presidency, thereby returning the country to full democracy, including the separation of powers. Next, we bring you an excerpt from a documentary film titledCyber-democracy: Cambodia, Kafka’s Kingdom, directed by Ellen Grant, which highlights […]

PAKISTAN: Police officers facilitate murder of a young woman in a barbaric honour killing

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding a police officer having orchestrated the killing of his own daughter, Arifa Babbur, 21, in the name of honour to get property, cash, and a minor girl in compensation through a jirga, an illegal parallel judicial system. The murder has been facilitated […]

INDONESIA: Forcing accused to confess, police torture him to death

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that police officers of the Municipality Police (Polrestabes) and the Tamalate Police Sector (Polsek Tamatale) Makassar, South Sulawesi Province, have tortured to death Mr. Abdullah. For the last 6 days before his death, the victim was in a local hospital (RS Labuang Baji) in […]

AHRC TV: Weekly Roundup, Episode 98

AHRC TV opens with the historic national elections that have just concluded in Burma. Despite some serious flaws, observers have declared the elections “reasonably free and fair”. Aung San SuuKyi and her NLD party have won a stunning outright majority of the votes. This comes 25 years after Burma’s last democratic election which SuuKyi’s NLD […]

PAKISTAN: Parliamentarians hammer final nail in the coffin of democracy

In a shameful assent to military rule, on 11 November 2015, the National Assembly approved an amendment to the Pakistan Army Act (PAA), 1952. This amendment provides legal cover to arrests already made by law-enforcement agencies, including the Army. According to media reports, the Bill amends Section 2 of the PAA, allowing military courts to […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Serious concern about the on-going hunger strike of student protesters

The Asian Human Rights Commission is gravely concerned about the health situation of student protesters who are currently carrying out hunger strikes in the prisons. There are incidences of solitary confinement, force-feeding, denial of water to some students besides inadequate hospital care. There was a police crackdown after which they arrested the non-violent student protesters […]