NGO staff in Pakistan harassed for a report they have never written or distributed
17 March 2008 9:55 pm

The officers of the National Community for Justice and Peace (NCJP), a human rights non-governmental organisation based in Pakistan, are being harassed and threatened with stiff punishment by the Provincial Government of Punjab of Pakistan, for a report that they were not involved in publication or distribution.
The officers of the National Community for Justice and Peace (NCJP), a human rights non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Pakistan, are being harassed and threatened with stiff punishment by the Provincial Government of Punjab of Pakistan, for a report they had a hand in neither preparing nor distributing.

The shadow report, entitled “Pakistan: The land of Religious Apartheid and Jackboot Justice: A report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination” and  published by  the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR), a regional human rights organisation based in New Delhi, was judged by the provincial government to be “highly charged and biased. The ACHR submitted the shadow report to UN Treaty Bodies as part of an established procedure of the Treaty Body system.

The Provincial Government of Punjab issued a notification on 25 January 2008 to ban the report while  accusing NCJP for distributing the report. The notification also said that the government will “take action against those who distribute” it. The NCJP claims that the organisation was not in any way involved in its publication or distribution.

The officers of NCJP were summoned to appear before the Home Department Office on 10 March 2008. On that day, Emmanuel Yousaf, Mehboob Ahmed Khan, and Peter Jacob went to the said office, only to be told that there will be no meeting since the Additional Secretary on Internal Security was unavailable.

The notification by the provincial government also puts NCJP staff in danger of being fined or imprisoned. When the provincial government issued the order, it cited as the source of its authority section 99-A of the Pakistan Criminal Procedure Code. The section is said to be read together with sections 123-A, 124-A, 154, 295-A and sections 298-A, B, and C of the Pakistan Penal Code.  These sections relate to crimes in the nature of treason, sedition and “insulting religion or belief of any class”. The penalties provided under these provisions range from 10 years to life imprisonment.

FORUM-ASIA responded to this situation with an open letter to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, saying that the ban is a “flagrant violation of the right to freedom of expression” and it is “clearly an attempt to prevent human rights defenders from engaging with the UN human rights mechanisms”. The organisation asked the government of Pakistan to “lift the ban” on the report.

FORUM-ASIA has also called upon the UN Human Rights Council President, Doru Romulus Costea, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour and the UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani, to take measures in pushing the Pakistan Government to “stop the harassment and threats against the NCJP”.