ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights on Monday decided to call law enforcement agencies’ (LEA) officials, including senior police functionaries from all four provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory, as well as, senior functionaries of the Pakistan Rangers, to a session aimed at inculcating allegiance to being protectors rather than tormentors of the public.
A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights was held here on Monday with Senator Walid Iqbal in Chair.
The Committee was briefed on behalf of IG Police Punjab about the undertaking given by Punjab Police in Lahore High Court with regard to the house search of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on 18th March 2023.
Senior Punjab Police officials apprised the Committee that a letter has been written for acquisition of a certified copy of undertaking and it will be presented before the Committee afterwards.
The Chairman Committee pointed out that valuables and personal effects of Imran Khan and his political/ security staff residing at the Zaman Park premises, including cell phones, accessories, equipment, and cash were allegedly stolen during the police raid and search on 18th March 2023.
The concerned officials said that Imran Khan’s chief security officer was welcome to present a complaint involving the stolen valuables before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that was looking into the matter, and its findings could result in penal action being taken against all violators of law, irrespective of whether they belonged to the police or the PTI.
Some of the senators present pointed out that foot police in the Punjab tasked to handle peaceful protestors had, over the last several years, developed a set pattern of damaging private property of citizens, including by way of smashing the windscreens and side windows of private vehicles, particularly ones with women inside. The Committee, unanimously, condemned this practice and called for better training and reform to prevent such an approach and mindset from continuing.
Regarding matters involving alleged inhumane treatment of political prisoners kept in detention across Punjab during the PTI Jail Bharo Tehreek, Senator Walid Iqbal stated that Pakistan’s political history is rife with examples such as these.
Briefing the committee, he narrated certain key aspects of the treatment meted out to him and fellow detainees during their transit from Lahore to Layyah and during their confinement spanning a total of 10 days. According to him, in the previous meeting, the Committee was apprised that while better or ‘B’ class prison facilities are reserved for Parliamentarians, as opposed to common class jail cells reserved for regular criminals in which Senator Walid Iqbal and his co-detainees were confined for the entire 10 days, granting such a better class entitlement is at the discretion of the provincial government.
Senator Quratul Ain Marri remarked that this sort of treatment had been meted out to every political prisoner and she suggested that the Committee needed to propose fresh rules and SOPs to put an end to these atrocities for once and all. The Committee recommended that jail manuals be revisited so that the existing lacunae could be redressed, and amendments can be proposed to prison rules. The Committee’s prison reforms activity will also include visiting jail facilities in all four provinces. A suggestion made by the Special Secretary (Home), Punjab, that discretion to grant better class facility to detained Parliamentarians be decentralized, and given to each Jail Superintendent, was very well received by the Committee.
On the other hand, the Committee took strong exception to the callous and sadistic treatment meted out by the Punjab authorities to Senator Walid Iqbal and 23 other political prisoners while transporting them, locked up in prison vans, from Central Jail, Kot Lakhpat, to District Jail, Layyah, on 23rd February 2023, where during a journey of about 12 hours no one was allowed any food, water or toilet break.
In this process, one young detainee, who was 28 years old, fell unconscious eight hours into the journey, and his hospital record was also placed before the Committee. Consequently, the Committee was of the unanimous opinion that such treatment was inhumane, contrary to all civilised norms, and if a case could be made out for violation of law, the aggrieved parties ought to take action against the officials concerned.
The Senate body also deliberated on the issue of the use of excessive force against former prime minister Imran Khan and his companions when he was to appear before a Court of law at Federal Judicial Complex, Islamabad, on 18th March 2023, and the overbroad use of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (ATA), against the crowd that had gathered.
Moreover, Senator Walid Iqbal called for data relating to individuals against whom FIRs have been registered under ATA to be shared with the Committee, particularly if persons less than 18 years of age had been implicated therein.
However, IG Islamabad Police Akbar Nasir declined to share such data, stating that the matter is sub-judice and a JIT has already been formed to probe into it.
Chairman Committee thereupon apprised the Committee on the basis of data to this effect that was independently available to him, namely, that from 28th February 2023 until now, more than 600 people have been charged under ATA, out of which more than 50 might be under the age of 18 years. Furthermore, in order to highlight the over-broad and excessive use of ATA provisions, Senator Walid Iqbal pressed upon the Committee to consider the fact that only six persons charged under ATA as aforesaid (comprising hardly 10 per cent of the total) had been denied bail, with about 150 of them being discharged, about 150 of them being granted bail before arrest, and more than 200 of them being granted post-arrest bail, between 28th February 2023 and now.
While the Committee avoided any comment on individual sub-judice cases, it expressed the unanimous opinion that overbroad application of ATA burdens the Courts and prevents them from focusing on genuine cases for which ATA was enacted. This is not only an abuse of the law but can also have serious adverse effects on the lives and civil liberties of the accused. Some of the senators present were of the view that this mindset is one that every government in office should rid itself of for good. The international perception is also becoming clearer on the point that a violent activity against civilians that has no political, ideological or religious aims is just an act of criminal delinquency, a felony, or simply an act of insanity unrelated to terrorism.
The Committee decided to involve the National Commission on the Rights of Child to examine how the ATA has been applied to under 18’s between 28th February 2023 and now and present a report on its human rights implications.
As to the matter related to the arrest of Siddique Jan, a journalist affiliated with Bol News, who was also charged under ATA in connection with the events of 18th March 2023, IG Islamabad Police remarked that the investigation against the media person was initiated as per law but he was consequently discharged on account of insufficient evidence.
The Committee observed, in general, that ATA provisions should not be exploited, and proposed to hold a separate meeting to specifically examine ATA’s scope and definitions and to reform and align the enactment with international best practices, with a view to excluding from it many actions, designs and purposes which had no nexus with the generally recognized concept of what terrorism was as pointed out by Pakistan’s superior courts.
The Senate Committee took notice of an alleged attack by a local SHO on Mehek Shah, a transgender person hired by the Punjab Police at a Tahaffuz Centre at Mianwali, which had been doing the rounds on social media in recent days. While the Committee called for a report on the matter from the Punjab Police, Senator Quratul Ain Marri suggested that Punjab Police should hire individuals to monitor social media so that prompt action could be taken in response to such incidents.
The meeting was attended by senators, Prof Dr Mehr Taj Roghani, Dr Mohammad Humayun Mohmand, Seemee Ezdi, Quratul Ain Marri, Abida Muhammad Azeem, Irfanul Haq Siddiqui, Falak Naz, Syed Waqar Mehdi, and Kamran Michael, and Secretary for Human Rights Ali Raza Bhutta, IG Islamabad Police Dr Akbar Nasir, two DIGs, and an SSP representing IG Police Punjab, Special Secretary (Home) Punjab, Deputy Commissioner, Lahore, and DIG Prisons, Punjab.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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