Human rights activists condemn threat to Asma’s life

Human rights activists on Monday expressed concern and alarm at a tip-off that there was a serious threat to the life former SCBA president Asma Jahangir.
The activists said they had received the information from ‘a responsible and highly credible’ source.
“What makes the reported conspiracy to liquidate Asma Jahangir especially serious is, firstly, the environment of targeted killings, in which dissident persons’ dead bodies are being dumped all over, and, secondly, the fact that the finger of accusation has been pointed at the extraordinarily privileged state actors. We wish to make it clear to all and sundry, especially those who preside over the security apparatus, that they must not under-estimate the consequences of any harm being caused to the life of Asma Jahangir,” a statement issued by them stated.
They were of the view that this was not a conspiracy against one individual alone but against Pakistan’s future as a democratic state. “What the duty of the state in this matter is and how the civil society must face the challenge thrown to it need no elaboration,” the statement said.
Those who condemned the threats included Justice Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, Dr Mubashir Hassan, IA Rehman, SCBA President Yasmin Azad, Pakistan Bar Council President Akhtar Hussain, former SCBA presidents Ali Ahmad Kurd, Tariq Mahmood, Muneer A Malik, and Lt General (r) Talat Masood, Air Marshal (r) Zafar Chaudhry, Ahmed Rashid, Peshawar High Court Bar President Latif Afridi, Lahore High Court Bar Association President Shahryam Sarwar Chaudhry, Balochistan High Court Bar Association President Zahoor Ahmad Shawani, Malakand High Court Bar Association President Sher Muhammad, PBC members Azam Nazir Tarar, and Ehsan Bhoon,. Justice (r) Malik Saeed Hassan, former law minister SM Masood, ANP General Secretary Ehsan Wyne, Salima Hashmi, Hina Jilani, Balochistan Bar Council Executive Committee President Munir Kakar, Jugnu Mohsin, Kamran Shafi, HRCP Co-chairperson Kamran Arif, Rashid Rehman, Fareeda Shaheed, Samina Rehman, Prof Dr Mehdi Hassan, Dr Haroon Ahmed, Saleem Asmi, HRCP Quetta Vice Chairperson Tahir Hassan, Neelam Hussain, Kishwar Naheed, Khawar Mumtaz, Nazish Ataullah , Shahtaj Qizilbash, Nasreen Azhar, Abbas Rashid, Nighat Saeed, Sajid Bashir , Shahzad Hassan Sheikh, and Muhammad Tahseen.