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IDHAE
INFORMATION
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The two
daughters of Ms. Asma Jahangir, a well known lawyer, human rights activist and
the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of religion or
belief, were assaulted and illegally held for several hours along with their
friends by armed persons of the Pakistan Muslim League Q (PML-Q); they were
beaten severely and threatened to be killed. One of the girls was pushed into
a room and this was only prevented due to the intervention of their mother.
Ms. Asma. Ms. Asma herself was also threatened by the gunmen who used very
filthy language against her. When police were called to the scene they took
the side of the gunmen who claimed to be police officers. However, only two
out of this group were policemen and the 20 other gunmen belonged to the
PML-Q. This incident
happened at 1.30am when Ms. Muneeza Jahangir, Asmaˇ¦s eldest daughter along
with her younger sister Ms. Sulema Jahangir and other friends, were making a
video clip for her television channel, the Geo TV. She was filming the ripped
posters and banners of the political parties in Lahore city, Punjab province,
after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former premier who was killed
on December 27. When they were
filming the torn posters of the ruling party, which contained photographs of
President Musharraf and other party leaders, some armed men arrived and held
the two sisters and their companions at gun point. They were then ordered to
follow the gunmen and when they resisted the gunmen beat them in public and
dragged them to the PML-Q main election office of the province. At the office
they were once again beaten and the men trained their guns on them. Someone
then told the gunmen that the girls were the daughters of Asma Jahangir. The
leader revealed that he was aware of their identities and then four of the
gunmen started dragging the youngest one into a small room. When she heard
about this incident Ms. Asma Jahangir reached the party office but was
refused entry as they physically restrained her and threatened her with their
guns. Fortunately she managed to climb the iron gate of the party office and
she saw that her eldest daughter and her friends were detained by more than
ten armed persons and her youngest daughter was being carried by some other
persons to a separate room. She immediately informed the Ghalib police
station who reached the scene after some time. The police took the side of
the armed men and pressurized the parents of the friends of her daughters to
hand over the video tape which they did. The police then threatened the
parents that they should not report this incident otherwise the girls would
be kidnapped, raped and killed. The police also pressured the parents to stop
Ms. Asma Jahangir from making this incident know and claimed that she would
bear the responsibility for whatever might happen in the future. This incident is an attempt to harass human
rights activists and their family members for speaking out against the
military regime. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible, in Urdu, English, Pashtu or your own language:
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO: 1. General Pervez Musharraf 2. Mr. Afzal Haider 3. Federal Minister of Interior 4. Secretary 5. Dr. Faqir Hussain
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