Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2006 - Pakistan

International Federation for Human Rights, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2006 - Pakistan, 14 March 2007, https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/ifhr/2007/en/60318 [accessed 23 April 2024]
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Status of the inquiries into the assassinations of several human rights defenders88

As of the end of 2006, the murderers of three human rights defenders killed in 2005 had still not been prosecuted:

– The trial regarding the assassination of Ms. Yasmin Kanwal, stabbed to death in Lahore on April 4, 2005, was before the Sheikhupura Court.

– The proceedings relating to the murder of Mr. Babar Simpson, leader of the Ilam-Dost Foundation, and Mr. Daniel Emanuel, his driver, kidnapped on April 5, 2005 in Peshawar, were still pending before the Court of First Instance of Peshawar, without any further information on the circumstances of their death. Their mutilated bodies were found on April 7, 2005.

– The trial regarding the assassination of Ms. Zubaida Begum, a member of the Aurat Foundation in the district of Dir, an NGO in favour of women's rights, and her daughter, Shumila, in June 2005, was referred to the Dir Court. Five suspects were on the run as of the end of 2006.

Ongoing acts of harassment against Ms. Khalida Ahmed89

In 2006, Ms. Khalida Ahmed, a member of the NGO "War Against Rape", received two phone threats.

On August 28, 2005, Ms. Khalida Ahmed had been harassed and threatened with death after taking a rape victim to the hospital.

Aggression against a delegation commissioned by HRCP90

On January 8, 2006, members of a delegation mandated by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), including Ms. Asma Jahangir, HRCP chairperson and United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Mr. Afrasiab Khattak, former HRCP chairperson, Mr. Munizae Jahangir, a journalist, and Mr. Muhammad Nadeem, a cameraman, were attacked in the Balochistan region in the south-west of the country. The aim of the mission was to monitor the deterioration of the human rights situation in the area subsequent to military operations carried out by Pakistani armed forces on December 17, 2005. Three shots of Kalashnikov were fired during the attack, but no one from the delegation was hurt.

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) then called the Quetta Club to claim responsibility for the attack, although this action was not typical of the organisation, which normally makes this kind of claims via its website.

No action had been taken following the complaint filed by HCRP delegates as of the end of 2006.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

88. See Annual Report 2005.

89. Idem.

90. See Annual Report 2005 and Urgent Appeal PAK 001/0106/OBS 009.

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