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GENERAL APPEAL(Pakistan): State sanctioned attack on justices, lawyers and activists challenging the emergency

November 7, 2007

URGENT APPEAL GENERAL URGENT APPEAL GENERAL URGENT APPEALS GENERAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal General

7 November 2007
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UG-008-2007: PAKISTAN: State sanctioned attack on justices, lawyers and activists challenging the emergency

PAKISTAN: State of emergency; unlawful arrest and detention; denial of fundamental rights; no rule of law
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Dear friends,

In addition to what has been widely reported, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the plight of justices, lawyers and activists who had been unlawfully placed under house arrest and detained following the state of emergency in 3 November 2007. The justices and lawyers had been targeted to suppress any form of demonstration challenging the imposition of emergency rule. The justices who refused to take allegiance to the provisional constitution being proposed by President Pervez Musharraf have been under intense pressure.

Justices house padlocked; ailing children denied treatment

Forty-six court justices, including Chief Justice Iftekhar Choudhry of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, have continuously been placed under house arrest. Padlocks were placed on their houses by security forces. Chief Justice Choudhry could not even buy medicine for his seriously ill son, who required regular medication from a pharmacy, because the security forces guarding his place have prevented him from going out. Those inside the house are also not allowed to contact doctors to attend to the sick. They padlocked the doors inside and outside the house.

Another justice, Sardar Raza Khan, was also prevented from getting his seriously ill son the medical attention he required. SC justice Rana Bhagwandas, who has a heart ailment, has also not been allowed to go outside his house for his daily walk. Bhagwandas's 2-year-old grandson, who is together with him inside the house, has been refused from going outside.

The son of Justice Sabih Uddin Ahmed of Sindh province has also been brutally beaten and arrested when he refused to take the oath on Provisional Constitution Order (PCO). Sources from the Pakistan Bar Council and other Bar Associations also indicate that other justices of Supreme Court and courts in different provinces who refused to take oath under the provisional constitution have been facing intense pressure from the military government. Other houses of justices had their supply of water cut off.

The siblings of justices, particular those who are lawyers, have also been arrested to put pressure on justices into taking the oath under provisional constitution. Justices were also prevented from entering their own courts.

Hundreds of lawyers attacked, arrested

On November 5, security forces brutally beat and used teargas against a crowd of lawyers holding demonstrations in different places in the country. Over 400 lawyers were injured, including women, and over 3,500 lawyers have already been arrested in the past three days since the emergency was imposed.

In Lahore City, Punjab, about 350 of the 1,700 lawyers in the province have already been arrested. In Karachi City, Sindh about 650 lawyers were arrested. In Balochistan province, about 250 lawyers were arrested, including those in the city of Quetta. In the North West Frontier, including in the city of Peshawar, about 300 lawyers were arrested. In Punjab, female lawyers are being detained even in toilets. The lawyers are kept in different jails, in bad conditions and are denied visits by their family members.

Arrest of human rights defender, journalists

Ms. Asma Jehangir, head of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Pakistan, has been placed under house arrest after the state of emergency was imposed. Jehangir is also the U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief. She will remain under arrest in the next three months under the public order ordinance. Reports indicate that security forces came to her house, surrounding it and told her she could not leave.

Jehangir's arrest has effectively ceased the HRC from functioning independently, denying any remedies for victims of human rights violations. It has given the assurance of impunity to the security forces to whatever act of atrocities they have committed and would have to commit in the coming days as the emergency rule continues to take effect.
 
More than 15 journalists have also been arrested for covering news events, three of whom were brutally beaten and injured by security forces. The arrest of journalists is obviously aimed at suppressing the flow of information. It has become difficult to get information reflecting the real state of the Pakistani people in the country in recent days.

Reports of news event can only be viewed at media outlets operated and run by the government. Private and independent media institutions have been prevented from broadcasting as they were allowed to do before. Several television and radio stations have ceased to broadcast freely. Censorship on newspapers has prevented them from printing news and photographs critical of President Musharraf and his government.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

On November 3, President Musharraf imposed a state of emergency on the pretext of the escalating extremism in the country. He is also the chief of Pakistan's army. He has suspended the Constitution and fundamental rights.

Soon after the emergency state was imposed, the military took over the Supreme Court of Pakistan building and arrested 75 justices. The first casualty of the emergency rule, however, is not the extremists but the justices, lawyers and the media. The justices and lawyers have recently been the target by the military government for being vocal in challenging President Musharraf's government and for actions undermining the judiciary.

You can also read previous statements on this:

AS-223-2007: AHRC gravely concerned about the safety of lawyers and journalists

AS-171-2007: Historic verdict reinstates chief justice, challenges dictatorship

AS-167-2007: AHRC condemns the attack at the venue of the meeting at which the Chief Justice was to speak and calls for an inquiry into the incident

AS-122-2007: AHRC condemns arrests of campaigners in support of the Chief Justice in Punjab

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to authorities demanding for the unconditional release of justices, lawyers, activists and others who are placed under house arrest and in detention under the state of emergency. The welfare of the ailing persons requiring regular medication must be ensured. The families of the detainees must be allowed visits.

Please also write letters to your own government, embassies and consulates of Pakistan in your country expressing grave concern on the targeted attack on justices, lawyers, activists and demanding for the lifting of state of emergency.

You may consider this sample letter below as template in writing letters to the concerned government authorities.

To support this appeal, please click here:

Sample letter:

Dear __________,

PAKISTAN: State sanctioned attack on justices, lawyers and activists challenging the emergency

I am writing to express my grave concern regarding the plight of court justices, lawyers and human rights activists who have been under house arrest and detained after the state of emergency was imposed on November 3. I trust that you are aware of the events in Pakistan as this has been widely reported.

I particularly draw your attention to the unlawful arrest and detention of 46 court justices and 3,500 lawyers all over the country. One of those placed under house arrest is Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftekhar Choudhry. Some of these justices and their children on regular medication have been denied of treatment as a result of their arrest. They were not allowed to contact their physicians and some of the houses of justices had their supply of water cutoff.

As you are aware, the hundreds of lawyers from different places all over the country were arrested for demonstrating against the state of emergency. They were brutally beaten in public and tear gas was used against them by security forces. Some of the female lawyers in detention were detained in toilets of the police station. They too were denied the right to be visited by their relatives and their families.

It is shocking that justices, lawyers and human rights activists have instead been targeted by security forces rather than "extremists" or "terrorists", of which the imposition of emergency should have been based upon. This has instead affirms the military government's intolerance to the maturing judicial independence and rule of law in the country. By suspending the Constitution and systematically attacking agents of the judicial institutions and civilian institutions, the country has been pushed towards lawlessness.

With the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Pakistan now no longer functioning and the government's established institutions now ceasing to operate independently, it has left the victims of violations no remedies at all. I am deeply concerned by the further risk of torture and maltreatment these lawyers and those persons detained will have to suffer. Pakistan has had records of systematic and routine uses of torture as a form of investigation and punishment by their security forces.

To deny the fundamental rights of persons, particularly by unlawfully arresting and detaining them and threatening their right to life by denying them access to medical treatment, is completely unacceptable. There are certain rights to which the government must afford its people, regardless of the existing condition. This, however, ceased to exist there with the state-sanctioned persecution of justices, lawyers, activists and its critics.

Furthermore, I urge you to demand for the unconditional release of the justices, lawyers, activists and persons arrested and under detention. Those under house arrest and in detention should be treated humanely pending their release. The state of emergency should be lifted without further delay, in order for established civilian institutions to function, particularly in addressing the enormous violation of human rights in recent times.

I trust that you will take appropriate action over these concerns.


Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary General
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary General
United Nations
S-378 New York
NY 10017
USA
Tel: +1 212 963 5012
Fax: +1 212 963 7055 or 2155 (ATTN: SECRETARY GENERAL)
E-mail: ecu@un.org

2. Ms. Louise Arbour
High Commissioner
UN High Commission on Human Rights
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax:  +41 22 917-9006 (ATTN: HIGH COMMISSIONER)

3. Mr. Doru Romulus Costea
President
UN Human Rights Council
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9012 (ATTN: PRESIDENT HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL)
E-mail: hrc@ohchr.org 

4. Ms. Leila Zerrougui
Chairperson
Working Group on arbitrary detention
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTENTION: WORKING GROUP ARBITRARY DETENTION)

5. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders
Room 1-040
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 93 88
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS)

6. Mr. Ambeyi Ligabo
Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression
c/o J Deriviero
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9177
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION)

7. Homayoun Alizadeh
Regional Representative
OHCHR Regional Office for Southeast Asia
Room 601, Block A, 6th Floor
UN Building
Rajdamnern Nok Avenue
Bangkok, 10200
THAILAND
Tel: + 662 288 1496/ 1235
Fax: +662 288 3009
E-mail: ohchr.bangkok@un.org

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal General
Document ID :
UG-008-2007
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.