Tag: human rights

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Afghanistan calls on Human Rights Council to probe Taliban’s atrocities

Taliban

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan also called on the international community to prevent Taliban’s crimes against humanity…reports Sanjeev Sharma

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has welcomed the recent Human Rights Watch and other verified independent sources’ report on documenting the Taliban’s violence and crimes, and “strongly condemns these reprehensible crimes”.

“The reports by verified independent resources and media indicate that the Taliban forces perpetrate in areas under their control unpardonable and prosecutable crimes, including illegal arrests, arbitral killings, torturing civilians, forced marriages, and violation of basic human rights, particularly women’s rights,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

“The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan calls on the international community, human rights agencies, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to cooperate with the Afghan Government in preventing the Taliban’s organised atrocities and prosecution of the perpetrators to put an end to impunity in Afghanistan,” it added.

The Afghanistan government, while appreciating the independent verified international agencies’ efforts in confirming the Taliban’s non-compliance to their international commitments and the Doha Peace Agreement, stresses the need to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Human Rights Council and dispatching a fact-finding delegation to assess and follow up on the Taliban’s violations and crimes against humanity, it added.

An Afghan special force member attends a military operation against Taliban fighters in Kandak Anayat village of Kunduz city, Afghanistan, July 23, 2021. (Photo by Ajmal Kakar/Xinhua)

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IANS had reported that Taliban forces that have taken control of districts in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province have detained hundreds of residents whom they accuse of association with the government.

Human Rights Watch said the Taliban have reportedly killed some detainees, including relatives of provincial government officials and members of the police and army.

The watchdog said that after Taliban forces took control of Kandahar’s Spin Boldak border crossing with Pakistan on July 8, and the Spin Boldak district centre on July 16, they conducted searches to identify residents who have worked for the local government or security forces.

Taliban forces that control areas around Kandahar city have carried out similar searches and have evicted some residents.

Taliban have taken more than 300 people into custody and have detained them in unidentified locations.

“There are grave concerns that Taliban forces in Kandahar may commit further atrocities to retaliate against the government and security forces,” said Patricia Gossman, Associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Taliban leaders have denied responsibility for any abuses, but growing evidence of expulsions, arbitrary detentions, and killings in areas under their control are raising fears among the population.”

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-Top News Asia News India News

India slams Pakistan for its human rights situation 

India slams Pakistan for its human rights situation 

“The plight of minorities in Pakistan is evident from their shrinking size. Forced conversions have become a daily phenomenon in Pakistan,” said India…reports Asian Lite News

India on Tuesday slammed Pakistan for the deplorable human rights situation in the country with forced conversions becoming a daily phenomenon there.

“The plight of minorities in Pakistan is evident from their shrinking size. Forced conversions have become a daily phenomenon in Pakistan,” India said while exercising its right of reply to the statement made by Pakistan at the interactive dialogue on the annual report of the UNHRC.

“We have seen reports of minor girls belonging to religious minorities being abducted, raped, forcibly converted and married. More than 1000 girls, belonging to religious minorities are forcibly converted in Pakistan every year,” India said.

Expressing shock at the plight of minorities, India maintained that systematic persecution of minorities, including Christians, Ahmadiya, Sikhs and Hindus through draconian blasphemy laws, forced conversions, marries and extrajudicial killings has become a regular phenomenon in Pakistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan

“Holy and ancient sites of religious minorities in Pakistan have been attacked and vandalized,” India said in its right to reply, stating the South Asian country has become the land of enforced disappearances, extra judicial killings and arbitrary detentions of political activists, students, journalists and human rights activists.

Pakistan has the dubious distinction of being listed as one of the “most dangerous countries.” “Journalists are threatened, intimidated, taken off air, kidnapped and in some cases killed, mainly to silence critics of the Establishment. While families of victims continue to struggle for justice, the perpetrators of these acts have enjoyed complete impunity,” India stated.

Hitting hard Pakistan for its continued support to terrorism, India said: “The scourge of terrorism is the gravest violation of human rights and must be dealt with in strongest terms in all its forms and manifestations. Pakistan, as its state policy, continues to provide pensions to dreaded and listed terrorists and hosts them on its territory. It is high time that Pakistan is held accountable for aiding and abetting terrorism.” (INN)

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-Top News Asia News USA

US report highlights arbitrary killings, kidnappings in Pakistan

The US report mentions disappearances of rights activists, politicians in Balochistan province of Pakistan, which remains under a global spotlight owing to an ongoing struggle for independence as well as massive Chinese investment in the CPEC, a project strongly resented by the local people reports Rahul Kumar

The 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights, released by the US on Tuesday, castigates Pakistan for arbitrary killings and disappearances of Pashtun, Sindhi and Baloch human rights activists.

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The State Department’s annual human rights report was released by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The report says: “Terrorist violence and human rights abuses by non-state actors contributed to human rights problems, although to a lesser extent than in previous years… Military, police and law enforcement agencies continued to carry out significant campaigns against militant and terrorist groups.”

Workers sit outside a collapsed coal mine in Pir Ismail Marwar area near Quetta the provincial capital of Balochistan (Xinhua Stringer IANS)

Talking about Balochistan, where a raging insurgency for independence is going on since the time Pakistan was carved out from India, the report says: “Security forces in Balochistan continued to disappear pre-trail suspects, along with human rights activists, politicians and teachers. The Baloch Human Rights Organisation noted 45 individuals had disappeared and that assailants had killed 15 persons in seven districts in July alone.”

The report adds that violations in Balochistan also include, “… attempts to control or block websites that advocated Baloch independence and that the government used surveillance software.”

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Balochistan remains under a global spotlight owing to an ongoing struggle for independence as well as massive Chinese investment in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)�a project strongly resented by the local people. The Baloch feel that the project is undermining their economic and financial sovereignty as both China and Pakistan will usurp their natural resources.

The US human rights report also took up the case of Pakistan’s media. It said: “Threats, harassment, and violence against journalists who reported on sensitive issues such as civil-military tension or abuses by security forces occurred with increasing frequency during the year.”

Balochistan, Sindhi nationalists unite to oppose Pak, China, CPEC.

It noted that the government has not done anything to alleviate the situation for media organisations. It said: “Both the military, through the Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations, and government oversight bodies, such as the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), enforced censorship.”

The Country Report on Pakistan took up the cause of another conflict-torn region�Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the Pashtuns have expressed their unhappiness with the Pakistan government. The Pashtuns resent terrorist activity in their region which increased due to the training camps and cross-border movement of terror organisations. The Pashtuns, who live on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan, border also feel torn over their division by the Durand Line.

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Talking about Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, located on the Afghan border, the report says that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Actions Ordinance of 2019 gives the authorities power to detain civilians indefinitely without charge in internment camps, occupy property, conduct operations, and convict detainees in the province. The report said: “The provincial high court ruled the ordinance unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court suspended this ruling. …pending the outcome of this appeal, the military retains control of detention centers and law enforcement activities in much of the former FATA.”

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan

The report has upbraided Pakistan for lack of accountability by the government, fostering a culture of impunity among the perpetrators and sheltering officials for human rights abuses.

The UN report follows a Human rights Watch report released in January this year which too hauled up the Pakistan government for not taking note of increased persecution of women and minorities.

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The HRW report, World Report 2021, said that the Pakistan government intensified its crackdown on media, political opponents and civil society in 2020. It also said that the government failed to curb violence against women and minorities. It mentioned that Pakistan used the anti-corruption watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau, to detain opponents and critics including the Jang editor, Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman.

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