UPDATE (Pakistan): No action from the authorities of Karachi University against the alleged perpetrators of an attempted rape

[RE: UA-258-2006: PAKISTAN: Attempted rape of a girl by the Karachi university staff and continuous impunity of the perpetrators due to protection of Pakistan Rangers; UP-159-2006: PAKISTAN: Denial of alleged attempted rape by Karachi university authority despite the culprits’ confession]
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PAKISTAN: Sexual assault at educational institution; impunity to perpetrators; no rule of law; no security for women
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information about the attempted rape of a female law student by staff of the Islamic Learning Department of Karachi University on 28 July 2006 (see UA-258-2006 and UP-159-2006). The university authorities have still not filed a case against the alleged accused persons, rather are allegedly providing full protection to them on the behest of Pakistan Rangers.

The Vice Chancellor of the university first denied the incident of the attempted rape of a law student in response to an AHRC Urgent Appeal UA-258-2006 dated 2 August 2006, terming the incident as a case of misbehaviour. But when human rights organisations in Karachi investigated the incident, they reported that the attempted rape did occur. On the basis of the report the AHRC issued Urgent Appeal Update UP-159-2006 dated 10 August 2006.

In response to the second appeal and news that appeared in The News Karachi, the office of the Vice Chancellor came out with a reply on 23 August 2006 accepting the incident and saying that, “the matter of fact is that the Vice Chancellor has taken a serious notice of this issue and had ordered immediate suspension of all the people involved in the said incident.  An initial inquiry followed and a charge sheet has already been issued as per the government employment rules and procedures.”

The authorities of the university had already taken more than one month to inquire about the incident after the denial from the Vice Chancellor, giving the opportunity for the perpetrators including the Pakistan Rangers to pressure the victim and her family. Because of the delay in registering the case to the police, the perpetrators have yet to receive any legal repercussions. The victim and her family have also received serious threats and are now in hiding somewhere which is not accessible to local human rights organisations.

BRIEF DETAIL OF THE CASE:

The AHRC has previously reported on 2 August 2006 regarding an alleged attempted rape of a female law student from the S.M. Law College, Miss R (name withh    eld) by three staff of the Islamic Learning Department and one student of the Department of Physics of the Karachi University on 28 July 2006 (We identified one more perpetrator based on the updated information). They are Mansoor Niaz, a senior computer operator, Zafar and Azam, employees at the Islamic Learning Department and Ash’aar, a student of Department of Physics. Even though the perpetrators were brought before Vice Chancellor Dr. Pirzada Qasim, he suspended them a few days later only after the incident was widely publicized in the newspapers, and also allegedly prevented the victim from lodging a complaint to the police station. Meanwhile, no serious disciplinary and legal action has been taken against the perpetrators due to the alleged influence from the Pakistan Rangers stationing within the university premises (See further: UA-258-2006).

According to the latest information, a local human rights organisation, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), formed a fact finding team consisting of seven activists and visited the Karachi University to inquire about the incident. On August 3 and August 5, 2006, the team members interviewed several people including the victim, several students (witnesses), representatives of the university employees union and Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS), the alleged perpetrators, officials of the Pakistan Rangers, Pro Vice Chancellor, chairperson of Islamic Learning Department of Karachi University, the Chief Examiner, teachers of the Women’s Study Department of Karachi University, and activists of the Joint Action Committee.

According to the HRCP fact finding team, the two main perpetrators, Mansoor Niaz and Azam had been caught once before for a similar incident at the Shiekh Ziad Islamic University, which is located within the premises of the Karachi University. However, under the alleged influence of the Pakistan Rangers, they were later transferred to the Islamic Learning Department of the Karachi University after receiving disciplinary action.

Meanwhile, the Karachi University Authority has also commissioned an inquiry committee that consisting of the Vice Chancellor Dr. Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, Pro Vice Chancellor Dr. Akhaq, the chairperson of Islamic Learning Department Dr. Jalal, the registrar of the university, Col. Khalid Masud of Pakistan Rangers at the Karachi University along with some other members. The four alleged perpetrators reportedly confessed to their crime in written statements before the inquiry committee. This was confirmed by Pro Vice Chancellor Dr. Akhlaq, Dr. Jalal and the Chief Examiner, Dr. Firdous Rehana during the interview by the fact finding team. However, Col Khalid Masud denied the Rangers’ involvement in the incident. He further said that it was now up to university authorities to take action.

However, the AHRC has received reports from several persons belonging to our network that sent their appeal letters to Vice Chancellor Dr. Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui suggesting that he responded to them by e-mail and denying the incident. In his e-mail to the appealers, he said that “There was no attempt of rape of a girl by the Karachi University employees. It was simply a matter of misbehaviour of an office staff which resulted in the incident”. He further denied the alleged influence from the Pakistan Rangers saying in his email that “as far as the Rangers are concern, it is clarified that they always tried to maintain discipline in a peaceful manner and in accordance with the rules and regulations”.

Due to indifferent attitude of the Vice Chancellor and no serious action from the university authority, the victim is scared and is asking people not to take up her case as she is continuously under tremendous pressure from the perpetrators and others involved. She reportedly told the fact finding team that she belongs to a poor family and therefore has no power to resist such pressure and that they should not contact her, as she has no support from the university on this matter. She also reportedly told the team that she was afraid of possible attacks on her family by the perpetrators acting out of revenge.

The AHRC is seriously concerned that the delay in the investigation of this case and not filing the case to the police by the Vice Chancellor and university authorities, have only helped the perpetrators escape from their responsibility and will encourage similar abuses within the university premises in the future. The Karachi University Authority should take strong action against the alleged perpetrators and report the case to the police so that they can be held accountable for their crimes through the legal procedure. Only though this action will the university authority be able to provide effective remedies to the victim and send a strong signal to the people that it will never allow such crimes to happen again.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the persons listed below and demand that they take action for the arrest of the perpetrators and the filing of a criminal case at the police station so that a police investigation can begin. Please also urge the university authorities to complete its inquiry as early as possible and to provide full protection to victim and her family.

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