Former Justice Supreme Court of Pakistan Wajihuddin Ahmed has said the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) is contrary to the provisions of the constitution of Pakistan and all stakeholders including government, judiciary and political parties must play their due role to safeguard the human rights and basic liberties of the citizens.
Addressing a seminar on human rights, organized by Pasban at Karachi Press Club (KPC) here on Thursday, he said officials in plainclothes have been harassing people with impunity. He said that they were all responsible for the present situation and the government, political parties and judiciary will have to correct their directions. He said that had necessary amendments been made to the Anti-terrorism Act, there would have been no need of the PPO.
He opined that the PPO was against article 10 and 10-A of the constitution of Pakistan. He said as the constitution guarantees the right of life of citizens, this ordinance is against it. He said that on one hand extra-judicial killings were happening in the garb of this ordinance on the other people were being killed in drone attacks.
Quoting the example of Parveen Rehman murder, he said she was killed on March 13, 2013 but the killers were yet to be arrested. He said during the hearing of this case, DIG Karachi Sultan Khwaja had told the court that Parveen Rehman possessed such documents and maps which showed that the land grabbers were affiliated to a particular political party.
MNA Dr Arif Alvi said that they were not satisfied with the PPO. He said his party proposed maximum amendments to improve the ordinance. He said he himself tabled 42 amendments to the PPO in the Parliament, but the government while finalising the ordinance accepted about 20 amendments proposed by him.
Pasban President Altaf Shakoor said that Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarian (PPPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were responsible for the approval of the PPO, which, he said, was a black law. He asked the leadership of these parties to apologise to the nation for chaining it in this slavery.
He said the PPPP and PML-N directly voted in favour of PPO, while the PTI supported it indirectly by not taking part in voting. He said though the PTI was playing a laudable role for making a new Pakistan, but how a new Pakistan could be formed if the nation is enslaved with such black laws like PPO. Aafia Movement Pakistan leader Dr Fowzia Siddiqui said keeping a citizen in custody without informing his family even for three hours is too much, and the PPO gives free hand to agencies to keep one in its detention for three months.
She said Dr Aafia Siddiqui was also kept in illegal detention exact in this manner. She said the PPO was promulgated on the pattern of the US Homeland Security Act. She said the biggest injustice with Dr Aafia Siddiqui was that she was kidnapped and kept in illegal study for five years and later given 86 years imprisonment without sufficient proofs and a fair trial.
Asad Iqbal Butt, Vice President of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said that the most dangerous aspect of the PPO was that it would be misused against protesters. The government can whisk away these protestors terming them as anti-country elements and even killed silently and no one would be made responsible. He said this is blatant violation of human rights.
Comments
Comments are closed.