Human Rights activists stage protest against media curbs
Several human rights activists and members of the People’s Resistance staged a demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club on Monday against curbs on the media and detention of lawyers and political activists since the imposition of emergency rule.
They chanted slogans and demanded that Advocate Munir A Malik, who is admitted to PIMS Islamabad and is in critical condition, should immediately be shifted to the SIUT in Karachi for proper medical treatment.
Activists from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and the Aurat Foundation, among others, criticised the government’s move to silence the media and arrest prominent lawyers including Advocate Tariq Mehmood, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan.
“They are our national heroes. We look up to them for inspiration and restoration of the judiciary,” said Uzma Noorani of the HRCP. The protest was later joined by members of the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) who came forward to express their solidarity with the activists. “Right now we have a single agenda, the restoration of law,” said KUJ president Shamim-ur-Rahman.
“The path to democracy is impossible without the media,” said Iqbal Haider of the HRCP. The activists were carrying placards inscribed with slogans: “General Kay Zabtay, Hum Nahi Mantay” and “we are all citizens, not terrorists.”
As activists continued to protest, the police unexpectedly stood by and watched in silence. Although under Section 144 of the criminal procedure code [which bans meetings of more than four people] the demonstration could have been interrupted, the officials said they had ‘not received orders from above yet.’
On being questioned why the law enforcement agencies were not reacting to the anti-government slogans, Farhat Kamal, the Frere Police Station SHO said: “Peaceful assembly is generally permitted”, but hastened to add that he had not received orders of arresting the activists (today).
Source: The News
Date:11/27/2007
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