TI Pakistan head ‘receives death threats’

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ISLAMABAD: The head of Pakistan’s branch of global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International said on Tuesday he had received death threats for exposing the “misdeeds” of the government.
“I have received death threats,” Syed Adil Gilani told AFP by telephone from his Karachi office, but declined to name those who had issued the threats.
“They are calling me anti-state and a foreign agent,” he said, adding, “We are exposing misdeeds of government officials”. The head of Transparency International, Huguette Labelle, has written to President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry over growing concerns about the ability of the Pakistani chapter to operate freely.
According to a copy of the letter to Chaudhry seen by AFP, Labelle asked the top judge “to address any possible state intimidation against TI Pakistan”. The letter cited press reports that government departments were asked to sever contacts with the watchdog’s Pakistani chapter.
It also said Interior Minister Rehman Malik reportedly called TI “a detective agency”, threatened legal action against its officials for “bribery” and threatened that the organisation would not be allowed to work in Pakistan.