Openly threatening activists families, kidnapping prominent journalists, raiding houses of human rights activists and journalists has now become open practice in Pakistan. It looks like the security establishment has declared open war against anyone it perceives as a threat to its narrative and its image.
In January 2017 several bloggers including Prof Salman Haider and Ahmad Waqass Goraya were picked up and tortured by the security agencies. In our article Arrest Militants not Scholars we had said “If terrorism is going to be defeated in reality and not just in slogans, state agencies will have to carry out operations against extremist militants, not scholars.”
Mr Goraya was forced to leave Pakistan and seek asylum in Europe. On June 20, Mr Goraya tweeted that his family that is being targeted and “his elderly parents were threatened directly with abduction and torture to ‘teach me a lesson’.” In a statement issued today the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) condemned what it saw as “this latest attempt to cow human rights defenders into silence. To use a person’s vulnerable elderly parents as leverage is nothing short of cowardly. That Mr Goraya has reportedly been warned to refrain from tweeting or writing, in his words “at least till the elections”, is an ominous sign at such a critical point in Pakistan’s democratic development.’”
Pakistan’s brave journalists continue to be targeted as well.
As mentioned in our story Pakistan army declares war on dissenters, in early June of this year, just one day after DGISPR Asif Ghafoor’s press conference in which he showed a list of prominent journalists who the security establishment viewed as threats, well-known journalist and activist and vocal critic of the military establishment Gul Bukhari was abducted by unknown persons in Lahore while on her way to the studios of Waqt TV. According to a report in Dawn: Bukhari “was abducted on Sherpao Bridge in Lahore’s Cantonment area. Her family had reported her missing to the police. Punjab Police said Bukhari had not been detained by its personnel.” Bukhari was freed in the wee hours of the following morning after outrage and concern expressed on social media by media watchdogs as well as the British High Commission in Pakistan.
On Thursday June 21, the residence of prominent journalist, analyst and Daily Times’ correspondent Marvi Sirmed “was ransacked as the family entered home after being away for holidays. Two laptops, one smartphone, passports of family members among other travel documents were taken.” In a Daily Times report: “Marvi sirmed said that from the look of it she could tell that the miscreants went through all of the family’s belongings but no valuables such as the jewelry was taken. She said her wedding ring was also gone and she couldn’t find two of her bangles and assumes were also taken. She said the miscreants detached the new passports and took the valid ones while leaving those expired behind. Marvi said the police have written a complaint but an FIR hasn’t been lodged yet. She added that she doesn’t know much about the incident except that it was similar to an incident that happened in 2010 while they lived in another house in F11. “I don’t know who would want to rob my house as I don’t even have precious jewellery or such valuables here.”
In its statement the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan “also expressed its alarm ‘at the growing frequency with which human rights defenders are being targeted. HRCP calls for a public and transparent investigation of the incident to make it clear that such callous attempts to intimidate human rights defenders or their families are unacceptable and unconstitutional. This ugly state of affairs simply cannot be allowed to continue.’”
