Organisations in India protest against emergency in Pakistan
New Delhi, November 15: Participating in the protest march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar, representatives from several organisations strongly condemned the recent imposition of emergency in Pakistan. They called it a “blatant breach of international law and human rights standards enshrined in the country’s own constitution.”
Mukul Sharma of Amnesty International India (AII) addressing the gathering said that similar protests were being organised in other parts of India as also in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka with the objective of telling the military dictator that the voice of democracy could no longer be suppressed in Pakistan. He also warned that this was just a beginning and that in future the disapproval of military regime in Pakistan would be expressed in many other ways. Sukumar Murlidharan of International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said that one of the first targets of this ongoing crackdown was the media in Pakistan, adding that whatever progress the media had made over the past many years was now being reversed. The IFJ’s affiliate organisation, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has been on a week long demonstration and strike in Islamabad and Lahore in defence of media freedom.
He warned: “In the absence of open and free media, things were going to get more and more difficult with very serious implications for not just Pakistan but the entire neighbourhood.” The leaflet brought out by the AII has demanded the restoration of fundamental human rights, release of all those who have been arbitrarily detained under emergency rule, reinstatement of independent judiciary, dispatching of an urgent UN mission to Pakistan, suspension of military tribunals for trying civilians, etc. |
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