By DPA
Islamabad : A leading international human rights group Thursday called upon Pakistan to repeal a recent decree issued by President Pervez Musharraf that empowers the army to try civilians.
“The military is Pakistan’s principal human rights abuser and the use of torture by its intelligence agencies is widespread and well-documented,” the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
“Granting it legal authority to detain, interrogate and try its opponents amounts to throwing them to the lions and providing license for repression and torture,” it added.
Musharraf, an army general who became president after staging a bloodless coup in 1999, gave sweeping powers to the military by amending the country’s Army Act a week after he proclaimed a state of emergency Nov 3.
He suspended the constitution and fundamental civil rights, sacked the Supreme Court, and then arrested thousands of political activists and others whom he viewed as a threat to his rule.
Under the amended act, civilians may be tried in military courts for acts of treason, sedition and less specific offences such as “giving statements conducive to public mischief” – a phrasing that renders media workers vulnerable.
After months of political instability, a growing Islamic insurgency and a sharp drop in the military ruler’s popularity, Musharraf cited threat of terrorism his prime reason for imposing emergency rule.
He also accused judges of the Supreme Court, which had been likely to overturn Musharraf’s Oct 6 re-election, of releasing several terrorists from the detention of the country’s intelligence agencies.
These people were among around 200 people released on the orders of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry while hearing the so-called “missing persons’ cases” after the government failed to produce any evidence against them.
Chaudhry was sacked with 12 more senior judges under the emergency rule, which has sparked countrywide protests by opposition activists, lawyers, journalists and students.
“Having ousted the judiciary and with it any hope for the rule of law, Musharraf is now moving to institutionalise repression by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies,” said Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch Asia director.