Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday urged the Pakistani government to investigate allegations made by prominent human rights activist Asma Jahangir that elements in the Pak military and intelligence agencies plotted to kill her.
Globally recognized for her human rights work and one of Pakistan's most respected rights activists, Asma made the allegation in a television interview on Monday.
She is credited with establishing the highly regarded independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and AGHS Legal Aid, the first free legal aid center in Pakistan. In a career as a rights activist spanning 30 years, Asma has been a consistent critic of human rights violations by the Pak military and the intelligence services.
"Pakistani authorities should urgently and thoroughly investigate the alleged plot against Asma Jahangir and hold all those responsible to account, regardless of position or rank," said Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan Director at the HRW. "A threat against Asma is a threat to all those in Pakistan who struggle for human rights and the rule of law," he added.
Asma told Pakistani media that she had discovered through a "security leak" brought to her attention by a "highly credible" source that an assassination attempt was being planned against her from "the highest levels of the security establishment." She said that she believed it was best to go public with the information because she feared that she might be killed and a member of her family framed for the murder.
In recent months, Asma has been at odds with the Pak military in a series of high profile stand-offs. In November 2011, Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, was forced by the military to resign after allegations that he was responsible for a secret memo delivered to senior U.S. military officials seeking support for Pakistani civilian control of national security policy. As defense lawyer in the "Memogate" affair, Asma raised serious reservations about lack of due process in legal proceedings against Haqqani and threats to his life from the military Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Asma has also been a critic of the military's policies in the insurgency-hit province of Balochistan, where it is accused of widespread killings, enforced disappearances and torture.
She has frequently been the target of harassment and threats over the course of her career, HRW said. She was placed under house-arrest by the military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf after he imposed emergency rule in 2007. She played a prominent role in the "lawyers movement" in Pakistan, which led to Musharraf's ouster and to the restoration to office of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
In 2010, Asma became the first woman to lead the Supreme Court Bar Association, Pakistan's most influential forum for lawyers. During her campaign for the Association, Asma repeatedly received threats for raising issues such as corruption in the legal service. Extremist groups and allied Pakistani media ran a campaign accusing Asma of apostasy - a capital offense in Pakistan - and urging lawyers not to vote for her.
Asma has long served as the United Nations special rapporteur on extra judicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, as well as the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.
The involvement of the military and its intelligence agencies in high-profile killings is well-documented, says the New York-based human rights watchdog. In April 2010, a three-member U.N. inquiry commission into the death of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto concluded that Pakistani authorities failed to provide her adequate security and that elements within the military may have played a role in her assassination. The panel was highly critical of the "pervasive role" played by the ISI in the events leading to the assassination.
In May 2011, Saleem Shahzad, a reporter for the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online and the Italian news agency Adnkronos International, was tortured and killed after receiving repeated and direct threats from the ISI.
HRW called upon "governments that have lauded Asma's human rights advocacy both in Pakistan and internationally" to be "alarmed by this alleged plot and press for a prompt and persistent investigation."
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