By IANS
London : Amnesty International said Tuesday the state of emergency imposed by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is a “blatant breach of international law and human rights standards” enshrined in the country’s own constitution and demanded an immediate return to constitutional rule.
“Musharraf’s actions constitute a direct assault on Pakistan’s judiciary, its vibrant human rights community, independent media and peaceful political dissent,” said the human right group’s secretary general Irene Khan.
“Measures that have been portrayed as necessary to protect Pakistan are in fact a wholesale abrogation of fundamental human rights protections and dismantle the very institutions and checks and balances that underpin the country’s stability,” she added.
Pakistani police baton-charged and arrested or detained hundreds of lawyers, human rights activists and political workers across the country Monday. The office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan was raided by a large police contingent Sunday and around 70 human rights activists were arrested, Amnesty reported.
They have been charged with unlawful assembly under public order provisions and initially detained in Kot Lakhpat jail, Lahore. They include senior citizens, many of whom suffer from ill health.
Among those placed under house-arrest is Asma Jahangir, chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and UN Special Rapporteur for freedom of religion. Her house has been declared a ‘sub-jail’, where she will be detained for 90 days under preventive detention laws.
Khan said that by circumventing the Pakistan constitution’s provisions for declaring a state of emergency, Musharraf had suspended the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of life, and key elements of the right to a fair trial. Under international law and human rights standards, reflected in the constitution of Pakistan, these rights must be fully and unconditionally respected in all circumstances, whether or not a public emergency exists, Khan said.
“Musharraf’s actions also fly in the face of commitments set out in the emergency declaration itself to uphold the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law,” she said.
The Amnesty chief said the suspension of judges and their effective house arrest plainly violate core provisions of the UN principles for the independence of the judiciary. Judges may not be removed by the executive, except in cases of incapacity or if they are unfit to discharge their duty.
“Amnesty International fears that this assault on key institutions of accountability, combined with sweeping emergency powers, will exacerbate existing patterns of human rights abuse, including torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and use of excessive force to suppress peaceful dissent,” Khan said.