AHRC News

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PHILIPPINES: President’s order for prosecutors to go on leave undermines its independence

Prosecution in the Philippines  http://www.article2.org/mainfile.php/0701/307/ When the five senior public prosecutors, including the chief of the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor (OCSP), were pl...

SRI LANKA: The government should bow to the public demand for inquiries into assassinations and the court should actively monitor the investigations

Large crowds gathered to attend the funeral of the well-known journalist and editor, Lasantha Wickramatunga and protest against his assassination. Many participants wore black arm bands and scarves an...

PAKISTAN: Young women held in military torture cells and forced into sexual slavery

Ms. Zarina Marri, a 23-year-old schoolteacher from Balochistan province, was arrested in late 2005, and has been held incommunicado in an army torture cell at Karachi, the capital of Sindh province. S...

SRI LANKA: Mass protests by the opposition and lawyers against the assassination of a senior journalist and warnings about threats from death squads

The assassination of Lasantha Wickramatunga, a veteran investigative journalist and the editor of the Sunday Leader, who has exposed corruption and abuse of power by the Rajapakse regime, has sparked ...

SRI LANKA: A senior editor assassinated and the killing of many others is feared

The Asian Human Rights Commission, which two days ago raised the alarm on the possibility of more political assassinations in Sri Lanka is saddened by the confirmation of this within less than 48 hour...

INDIA: Monuments will not save the Dalits

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a political party that has contested elections harnessing the Dalit votes. The BSP’s woman leader, Ms. Mayawati, a dalit herself, has been claiming that her part...

PHILIPPINES: Re: Abadilla Five’s nearly 13-year-old complaint over human rights violation remains pending at the Ombudsman

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to once again draw your attention to the complaint of five men, known as the Abadilla Five, for violation of rights which the Commission on Human Rights...

PHILIPPINES: Abadilla Five’s nearly 13-year-old complaint over rights abuses must be filed in court at once

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to draw your attention to the complaint of five men, known as the Abadilla Five, pending before your office. The case, which bears Case No. OMB-P-C-0412...

PAKISTAN: Police officers engaged in fake encounters must be charged for murder

The enquiry into the murder of four traders at Khalid Bin Waleed road, PECHS of Karachi-Sindh province has revealed ‘criminal negligence’ on the part of the police officers. The murder hap...

INDIA: Mr. Omar Abdullah must put promises into action

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates the new state government of Jammu and Kashmir setup under the leadership of the Chief Minister Mr. Omar Abdullah. By their overwhelming participa...

SRI LANKA: The attack on Sirasa TV an early warning of worse things to come

The massive attack on the Sirasa TV station brings gloomy predictions of things to come in the very near future to a country which is already bedeviled by lawlessness, violence and corruption. The lea...

INDIA: Chief Ministers’ conference should not be an opportunity wasted

The internal security of a country is not an abstract concept. It involves wide-ranging issues, including but not limited to, domestic security and civil defense, societal security and safety, and eme...

SRI LANKA: Attack on TV stations – human rights an unmanageable disaster in Sri Lanka

Early this morning (January 6, 2009), a group of armed men forcibly entered, attacked and caused serious damage to the MBC-MTV Transmission Station at Pannipitiya. This TV station is popularly known a...

SRI LANKA: The need for a new alliance for democracy and rule of law in the south, north and the east

The defeat of terrorism calls for the shift of attention in resolving lawlessness, corruption and the loss of authority of the public institutions of democracy.  The government’s declaration th...

PAKISTAN: Release of detainees is a ray of hope for the people living on both sides of the border

The Government of India has released 67 prisoners of Pakistan nationality from different jails in the country. These prisoners were reportedly detained in Indian prisons for charges ranging from tampe...

BANGLADESH: New government must fulfill people’s expectations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AHRC-STM-328-2008  December 30, 2008  A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission BANGLADESH: New government must fulfill people’s expectations After the two-year-...

PAKISTAN: Police officer named in case of hostage taking of women and children appointed enquiry officer in murder inquiry of Taslim Solangi

On December 23, the President of Pakistan appointed Mr. Sana Ullah Abbasi, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operations) Hyderabad range as the inquiry officer in the case of Ms. Taslim Solangi, a 1...

SRI LANKA: A president’s counsel and several lawyers blamed by the Sri Lankan government for regularly appearing for detainees charged with terrorists activities

The Sri Lankan government’s Ministry of Defence website published the following caption with a photograph of a President’s Counsel, Romesh de Silva PC. President’s Counsel Romesh de ...

PAKISTAN: SHC adjourns the hearing in case of making eight women and four children hostages by the police till January 15, 2009

The constitutional petition no. D-2417/2008, regarding illegal taking of hostages – eight women and four children – by the police of four districts of Sindh province, was heard by the sing...

SRI LANKA: The one-man show is unworkable

A former minister of the government and a well-known lawyer, Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha, is quoted in Lankadissent (December 22), in an interview given earlier to Lakbima as saying: “I relinquished m...