The Alliance for Protection of Human Rights (APHR), a group of civil society organisations, has expressed grave concern over the worsening human rights situation in the country and urged the government to provide security to common people.
The demand came at a meeting of the alliance, held at the office of Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) in Peshawar that had been convened to take stock of a string of events in different parts of the country that spoke volumes for a breakdown of the law and order.
Representative of all the member organisations - SPO, Aurat Foundation, Shirkat Gah, Human Resource Management and Development Centre (HRMDC), Khwendo Kor (KK), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Noor Education Trust (NET) and Sungi Development Foundation (SDF) turned up to share their concern and anguish over the worsening law and order situation.
The participants voiced grave concern over the recent kidnapping of a woman, her daughter, daughter-in-law and infant grand daughter by the students of a religious school on the charges of promoting vulgarity. They said if there were any proofs to support the assertion, even then no one had the right to resort to kidnapping. "The proofs should have been produced before the authorities concerned and legal procedures adopted for settling the issue. Such regrettable actions will lead to harassment and chaos and encourage more incidents of the kind", said the participants while condemning the move.
The meeting discussed and expressed concern at the current alarming law and order situation in the southern NWFP district of Tank and urged the government to ensure security of citizens and protect the fundamental rights of the people. The participants took notice of the threatening letters issued to the girl schools in Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda and other districts wherein students had been asked to wear veils. The use of private FM radio stations to persuade people to stop sending girls to schools was also lamented.
The APHR members condemned such medieval acts and asked the departments concerned of the government to wake up to their responsibilities and provide the girl students with security and supportive environment to continue their academic activities.
The meeting resented the letters issued by a religious group to the owners and proprietors of Internet cafes, video and audio-cassettes shops which asked them to wind up their business. "A society where poverty and unemployment is already on the rise, such acts of terror will add to the problems and deprive people of their basic right to entertainment and access to information. It will limit their livelihood sources, ultimately resulting in an increase in rate of crimes and violations", concluded the participants while urging the government machinery to ensure the law and order.-PR