Babar assails HRCP concern over SC ruling taking ‘bat’ from PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding member Akbar S. Babar Wednesday expressed concerns over the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s “selective application of the constitutional provision protecting freedom of association”.

Babar said in a letter to the HRCP: “The selective application of Article 17 of the Constitution of Pakistan by the HRCP invokes memories of the infamous doctrine of necessity that has damaged Pakistan’s march towards unfettered Constitutional rule”.

The HRCP had expressed concerns over the Supreme Court’s recent verdict that stripped the PTI of its iconic ‘bat’ symbol. In a statement, the HRCP had said that “any infringement on the fundamental rights of a political party was an infringement on the rights of the citizens it represented, particularly as guaranteed under Article 17 protecting freedom of association”.

Babar questioned the HRCP about the violation of the said article by the PTI which denied hundreds and thousands of party members from the right to elect the leadership of their choice.

He wondered, “Is it not a violation of fundamental rights of millions of PTI members under the same Article 17 of the Constitution of Pakistan when they were disenfranchised from electing a leadership of their choice through a farcical intra-party elections”.

Babar asked the HRCP that how could an unelected leadership of a party forcibly imposed on millions of its members through a fraudulent intra-party elections be expected to defend the fundamental rights of the citizens of Pakistan, if and when in power.

Babar said that he was shocked at the selective application of the entire concept of human rights by the HRCP. He said the principle of fundamental rights is free from any consideration be it race, religion, ethnicity, gender, numbers, and political considerations and must be applied without any discrimination.

He said these fundamental considerations should not have been ignored by the HRCP while criticizing the verdict of the Supreme of Court of Pakistan in the PTI Intra-Party Election Case.