FAULT LINES EXPOSED!!!

Once again a classic piece by the secular News with the same pro-India sickness is visible here again. The drive is consistent; the statements are contrived “no animosity…long quest of people wanting to cross,” with an intent to engineer a confederation with India.

Furthermore who deems the “self proclaimed” human rights activist as the representative of Pakistani people. Would Amber Rahim clarify about what gives Asma Jahangir the authority to speak on behalf of the Pakistani people?

Another message that is given to the outside world is the notion that some Pakistanis are fundamentalists, sword in hand, ready to fight a jihad against all non-Muslims… so foreign powers be wary of Pakistan…!!!

Condemning the persecution of Baha´’ı´s in Iran.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 28, 2008

Mr. KIRK (for himself, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. WOLF, Mr. CANTOR, and Mr. MCNULTY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

Condemning the persecution of Baha´’ı´s in Iran.

Whereas in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2006, Congress declared that it deplored the religious persecution by the Government of Iran of the Baha´’ı´ community and would hold the Government of Iran responsible for upholding the rights of all Iranian nationals, including members of the Baha´’ı´ faith;

Whereas on March 20, 2006, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, revealed the existence of a confidential letter dated October 29, 2005, from the chairman of the command headquarters of Iran’s Armed Forces to the Ministry of Information, the Revolutionary Guard, and the police force, stating the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, instructed the command headquarters to identify members of the Baha´’ı´ faith in Iran and monitor their activities;

Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur expressed ‘‘grave concern and apprehension’’ about the implications of this letter for the safety of the Baha´’ı´ community;

Whereas in May 2006, 54 Baha´’ı´s were arrested in Shiraz and held for several days without trial in the largest roundup of Baha´’ı´s since the 1980s;

Whereas in August 2006, the Iranian Ministry of the Interior ordered provincial officials to ‘‘cautiously and carefully monitor and manage’’ all Baha´’ı´ social activities;

Whereas in 2006, the Central Security Office of Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology ordered 81 Iranian universities to expel any student discovered to be a Baha´’ı´;

Whereas in November 2006, a letter issued by Payame Noor University stated that it is Iranian policy to prevent Baha´’ı´s from enrolling in universities and to expel Baha´’ı´s upon discovery;

Whereas in 2007, more than two-thirds of the Baha´’ı´s enrolled in universities were expelled upon identification as a Baha´’ı´;

Whereas in February 2007, police in Tehran and surrounding towns entered Baha´’ı´ homes and businesses to collect details on family members;

Whereas in April 2007, the Iranian Public Intelligence and Security Force ordered 25 industries to deny business licences to Baha´’ı´s;008 mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

Whereas in 2006 and 2007, the Iranian Ministry of Information pressured employers to fire Baha´’ı´ employees and instructed banks to refuse to provide loans to Baha´’ı´-owned businesses;

Whereas in July 2007, a Baha´’ı´ cemetery was destroyed by earthmoving equipment in Yazd, and in September 2007, a Baha´’ı´ cemetery was bulldozed outside of Najafabad, erasing the memory of those Iranian citizens;

Whereas in November 2007, the Iranian Ministry of Information in Shiraz detained Baha´’ı´s Ms. Raha Sabet, 33; Mr. Sasan Taqva, 32; and Ms. Haleh Roohi, 29, for educating underprivileged children;

Whereas Mr. Taqva reportedly was detained while suffering from an injured leg which required medical attention;

Whereas on January 23, 2008, the State Department released a statement urging the Iranian regime to release all individuals held without due process and a fair trial, including the 3 young Baha´’ı´s being held in an Iranian Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Shiraz;

Whereas the Government of Iran is party to the International Covenants on Human Rights; and

Whereas in December 2007, the Iranian Parliament published a draft Islamic penal code, which violates Iran’s commitment under the International Covenants on Human Rights by requiring the death penalty for ‘‘apostates’’, a term applied to Baha´’ı´s and any convert from Islam:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

 (1) condemns the Government of Iran for its  state-sponsored persecution of Bah´a’´ıs, calls on the Government of Iran to immediately cease activities aimed at the repression of the Iranian Bah´a’´ı community, and continues to hold the Government of Iran responsible for upholding all the rights of its  nationals, including members of the Bah´a’´ı community;

(2) condemns the Government of Iran’s continued imprisonment of individuals without due process and a fair trial;

(3) calls on the Government of Iran to immediately release Bah´a’´ıs: Ms. Raha Sabet, Mr. Sasan Taqva, and Ms. Haleh Roohi; and

(4) calls on the Government of Iran and the Iranian Parliament to reject a draft Islamic penal code, which violates Iran’s commitments under the International Covenants on Human Rights.

Dear Friends,

The situation in the country is uncertain. There is a strong crackdown on the press and lawyers. Majority of the judges of the Supreme Court and four High Courts have not taken oath. The Chief Justice is under house arrest (unofficially). The President of the Supreme Court Bar (Aitzaz Ahsan) and 2 former presidents, Mr. Muneer Malik and Tariq Mahmood have been imprisoned for one month under the Preventive Detention laws. The President of the Lahore High Court Mr. Ahsan Bhoon
and former bar leader Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd have also been arrested. The police is looking or 6 other lawyers, including President of Peshawar and Karachi bar. The President of Lahore bar is also in hiding.

There are other scores political leaders who have also been arrested.

Yesterday I was house arrested for 90 days. I am sending my detention order.

Ironically the President (who has lost his marbles) said that he had to clamp down on the press and the judiciary to curb terrorism. Those he has arrested are progressive, secular minded people while the terrorists are offered negotiations and ceasefires.

Lawyers and civil society will challenge the government and the scene is likely to get uglier. We want friends of Pakistan to urge the US administration to stop all support of the instable dictator, as his lust for power is bringing the country close to a worse form of civil
strife. It is not time for the international community to insist on preventive measures, otherwise cleaning up the mess may take decades. There are already several hundred IDPs and the space for civil society has hopelessly shrunk.

We believe that Musharaf has to be taken out of the equation and a government of national reconciliation put in place. It must be backed by the military. Short of this there are no realistic solutions, although there are no guarantees that this may work.

ASMA JAHANGIR

STATE OF EMERGENCY - ♦ Pictures ♦ Videos ♦ List of Arrests ♦ Demonstrations ♦ Suspended Rights ♦ Press Releases, Calls for Action ♦ Letters to the President, Ambassadors, etc. ♦ Emails, Support, Feedback ♦

Hundreds of lawyers were arrested by Police from Lahore High Court Bar room on November 5, 2007. They include a number of women. The lawyers faced the brutal force of police in both Lahore and Karachi, where hundreds of arrests were also made. Dozens of lawyers were injured as police burst into bar premises.

Many cases of violence by police have been reported at HRCP offices.

Civil Society of Pakistan in UK is protesting against the arrest of human rights activists in front of Pakistan High Commission in London today on November 5, 2007 at 2:00pm GMT . Hina Jilani, Vice-Chairperson, HRCP is leading the protest.

Arrest warrant of Ms. Hina Jilani Vice Chairperson HRCP has been issued but she is out of country.

All privately owned media channels remain blocked and a complete news blackout has persisted since the emergency.

STATE OF EMERGENCY - ♦ Pictures ♦ Videos ♦ List of Arrests ♦ Demonstrations ♦ Suspended Rights ♦ Press Releases, Calls for Action ♦ Letters to the President, Ambassadors, etc. ♦ Emails, Support, Feedback ♦

• 55 Human Rights Activists (31 male and 24 female) including Director HRCP Mr. I.A. Rehman, Secretary General Mr. Syed Iqbal Haider, Ms. Shahtaj Qazalbash, Mr. Mehboob Khan, Mr. Nadeem Anthony, Ms. Salima Hashmi, Ms. Rubina Saigol, Ms. Samina Rehman, Brig. Rao Abid Hameed, Faisal Akhtar, Waseem Majeed Malik, Irfan Barket, Dr. Naseem Ali, Dr. Khurram Iftikhar, Dr. Yousaf Yaseen, Irshad Choudhry, Imran Qureshi, Shams Mahmood, Zaffar ul Hassan, Khalid Mehmood, Bilal Hassan Minto, Muhammad Bashir, Ali Cheema, Shahid Hafeez, Syed Mozam Ali Shah, Mansoor Ali Shah, Shahzeb Masood, Javed Amin, Suleman Akram, Muhammad Bilal Sabir, Shahid Amin, Khawaja Amjad Hussain, Mahmood Ahmed, Rahim ul Haq, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Alia Ali, Samia Ali, Azhra Irshad, Jona Anderyas, Ayra Anderyas, Zeba, Neelam Hussain, Gulnar, Sonobar, Sadaf Chughtai, Nasreen Shah, Shaista Parvaiz Malik, Iram Sharif, Amina Sharif, Tania Sabah ud Din, Tamkanat Karim, Lala Raukh, , Huma Shah, Nasreen Shah and Samia Ameen Khawaja were arrested from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan head office Lahore by a huge police contingent on Sunday November 4, 2007 and were taken to the Model Town Police Station, Lahore. An F.I.R. # 843/2007, dated 04-11-07 was lodged under sections 146/147 and 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), at Garden Town police station, Lahore.
• All 55 human rights activists were produced before the Judicial Magistrate today on November 5, 2007 and were sent to Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore till the next date of hearing i.e. November 06, 2007. One of the detained activists, Mr. Ashtar Ausaf Ali advocate has been sent to Hospital after a heart attack in police custody.

On November 06, 2007, a Judicial Magistrate ordered the release on bail of all those detained from the HRCP head office.

STATE OF EMERGENCY - ♦ Pictures ♦ Videos ♦ List of Arrests ♦ Demonstrations ♦ Suspended Rights ♦ Press Releases, Calls for Action ♦ Letters to the President, Ambassadors, etc. ♦ Emails, Support, Feedback ♦

Ketan Tanna I TNN

Mumbai: Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir’s eyes looked fiery as she stared through her glasses.
   “I don’t know whether it changed me as a person or not but it is definitely one of the cases that has created the greatest impact on me. It was a case I handled in 1995, when a 14-year-old boy was given a death sentence for blasphemy. He had a little tin box that he wanted back and kept asking for it. I thought, ‘My god! This little chap is so brave in the face of people who can be cruel in the name of religion.’ In an appeal he was acquitted, but the judge who gave the order was murdered. Then some assassins came to kill me. It was all so messy, but I had resolved in my mind to get the little boy acquitted,’’ said “the small woman with a large job’’ as The Times magazine once described.
   Jahangir is in the city along with Nasir Aslam Zahid, the former Chief Justice of the Sind high court, who has resigned from the Supreme Court of Pakistan instead of taking the oath of office according to General Pervez Musharraf’s Provisional Constitutional Order. The two have come here to create network and gain support from Indian human rights organisations and the civil society.
   Dressed in a floral print Punjabi salwar kameez and always a smile on her face, the 1995 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service winner can easily pass off for a kind grandmother. The only sign of affluence in the 55-year-old activist is the diamond ring that sparkled on her fingers.
   The next few years in Pakistan will be messy, but the country will come out of it, said Jahangir. Being the founding member of the human rights commission of Pakistan, Jahangir danced on the streets of Pakistan along with other men, women and children when the Supreme Court reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry recently. “No mullah could dare oppose us,’’ she said.
   Earlier at a press meet, both Jahangir and Zahid said the recent reinstatement of Chaudhri was only a milestone in the long road that would lead to a democratic Pakistan. The judges’ movement and the turbulence that rocked Pakistan was a turning point they said. “It is the common person who was at the forefront of the movement. More than 80% of the bar association members belong to rural and humble backgrounds,’’ said Jahangir.
   With general elections just around the corner and a desperate general in office, there is apprehension that Musharraf may impose an Emergency and try to get another five-year extension. But for now, politicians in Pakistan have not been allowed to hijack the movement that brought Chaudhri back. Despite the success of the lawyers’ movement, the future is uncertain, said Jahangir, though she hoped that her country would have a democracy where the rule of law would prevail.
   For her own, she said she did not have any plans. “I wish I could plan for the future. Trouble lands up at my office. I don’t plan for the future, I plan for what we should be asking for and what we should be fighting for. But let me add here, that what has changed in Pakistan is the mood and outlook of the people. God willing, we will emerge as a stronger country with a democratically elected government,’’she added.
   ketan.tanna@timesgroup.com

UNRAVELLING THE SITUATION BACK HOME: In India to gain support from human rights organisations, Jahangir talks about the reinstatement of Pakistan chief justice