ISLAMABAD: Former human rights minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Shireen Mazari has written UN special rapporteurs, calling for their intervention against the government’s “misuse of the blasphemy law”.
The letter has been addressed to the UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions, special rapporteur on the freedom of opinion and expression, and special rapporteur on the freedom of religion and belief.
She mentioned the arrests of PTI leaders and workers in connection with the Madinah incident in Pakistan. She has also sent a separate message to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The letter stated that Pakistan had been engulfed in a political crisis ever since the Imran Khan’s government was ousted in the aftermath of a “regime change scheme” and replaced with a government led by Shehbaz Sharif.
“Since then, there has been a groundswell of public anger reflected in huge rallies by Imran Khan’s parties across the country as he leads a movement for the restoration of democracy and sovereignty of Pakistan,” the letter said.
Mazari recalled Imran’s government had concluded in a cabinet meeting that there had been a “US-backed regime-change conspiracy” against the former prime minister. Mazari then mentions that the events that followed which ultimately resulted in Imran’s ouster.
The letter added that the government responded with repressive measures against the “groundswell of public anger reflected in huge rallies by Imran Khan’s party across the country as he leads a movement for the restoration of democracy and sovereignty of Pakistan.”
She drew UNHCR’s attention to three major human rights violations conducted against Imran Khan. The first violation, she said, was complete blackout of media coverage by state-owned media as well as almost all private channels of Imran Khan massive rallies.
The second violation was the registration of blasphemy cases against Imran and PTI leaders in connection with the Masjid-e-Nabwi incident where Shehbaz Sharif and his delegation were heckled by a crowd of Pakistani pilgrims.
She argued that it was not a planned incident as similar treatment had taken place with opposition members at other places as well. “To use the Madinah incident as an excuse to file blasphemy charges endangers lives of Imran and party’s leadership,” Mazari wrote.
The letter added that even though an FIR was not registered, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had warned Imran and his supporters of arrests.
Mazari requested the United Nations Special Procedures mechanism to intervene with the Pakistani government to immediately cease the misuse of the blasphemy law against political opponents, stop media censorship, and stop denying the right to peaceful protest through repressive measures.
