The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has condemned the ‘burglary-style raid’ at the residence of the editor of its annual report, highly critical of the country’s state of human rights in 2017.
The house of the editor, Maryam Hassan, in Lahore was ‘raided’ last night as two armed men broke into her residence at 8:45pm on Thursday night, said a statement issued by the rights watchdog on Friday.
“[They] took away her laptop, two hard drives and two mobile phones, as well as some jewelry and cash. They told Ms Hasan, who lives alone, that they had also come the day before, but not committed burglary since she had not been at home,” read the statement.
Hasan was also questioned about her professional engagements and intimidated in a ‘roundabout manner’ by the assailants, who finally left at 10:00pm, it added.
The organisation believed the two ‘suave raiders’ were no ordinary thieves and urged the Punjab government to establish the identity of the culprits and bring them to book at the earliest.
The HRCP warned that the provincial authorities will be held responsible for any further attempts by ‘state or non-state actors’ to harass any persons associated with the commission.
The annual report ‘State of Human Rights in 2017’, launched on April 16, painted a gloomy picture of the state of human rights in Pakistan and disclosed some shocking facts and figures about human rights violation cases in the country last year.
The report revealed that more Pakistanis died in incidents described as ‘encounters’ than in gun violence or in suicide attack last year. The country also witnessed an increase in blasphemy-related violence and mob attacks while the government continued to condone discriminatory prosecutions throughout the year.
At the launch of its flagship annual report, the HRCP’s office bearers had underscored the rising incidence of ‘enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings’, and the extension of the jurisdiction of military courts.
