LAHORE: Representatives of the civil society, belonging to various sections of society, have raised alarm at serious threats to the life of the country’s leading human rights activist and one of the most influential leaders of the bar, Ms Asma Jahangir.
In a press release issued here on Monday, they said: “What makes the reported conspiracy to liquidate Asma Jahangir especially serious is, firstly, the environment of target-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.
“This is not a conspiracy against one individual alone; it is obviously a plot against Pakistan’s future as a democratic state, of which the threat to Asma Jahangir may be only one, though crucial, part. 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.”
Forty-four citizens including Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, Dr. Mubashir Hassan, Mr. I. A. Rehman, Mr. Yasmin Azad, President SCBAP, Akhtar Hussain, vice chairman President Pakistan Bar Council, Ali Ahmad Kurd, former President SCBAP, Tariq Mahmood former President SCBAP, Muneer A Malik, former President SCBAP, Lt. Gen (retd) Talat Masood, Air Marshal (retd) Zafar Chaudhry, Latif Afridi, President High Court Bar Peshawar, Shahryam Sarwar Chaudhry, President Lahore High Court Bar Association, Zahoor Ahmad Shawani President Balochistan High Court Bar Association and Sher Muhammad, President Malakand High Court Bar Association have signed the petition.