WAF condemns target killing of Sabeen

Islamabad
The Women’s Action Forum (WAF) has expressed deep and heartfelt grief at the target killing of peace and rights activist Sabeen Mahmud in Karachi on April 25.
In a statement, WAF demanded clear, prompt, visible, effectual and bona fide actions should be immediately taken to stop such target killings, especially of human right defenders, to restore a small measure of Pakistani citizens’ confidence in the state and to restore citizens’ fundamental rights, as enshrined in the Constitution.
“WAF is outraged at yet another target killing of a brave and courageous human rights defender in Pakistan. WAF strongly condemns the dastardly, cowardly act. We express our deepest sympathies with Sabeen’s mother, who was shot and wounded in the same incident. We pray for her early recovery.”
The WAF condemned the law enforcing authorities for failing to protect Sabeen, who had informed them of the threats she had been receiving. “How many more lives will be silenced before any action is taken?” said the statement.
It says that Sabeen Mahmud was a strong supporter of WAF, through her ‘PeaceNiche’ at T2F. “Her alleged crime” was that she gave people the opportunity to think, she provided space for dialogue and human interaction; she opened their eyes to political issues, to music, art, other forms of culture, to political and human rights. She helped promote secular, progressive and rational thought. She encouraged intellectual discussion and academic debate, versus the violent alternative. She was an inspiration to countless activists, and a role model for the younger generation who flocked to T2F. For all this, and for her brave activism, her voice, like that of so many others, has been brutally silenced.”
The statement states that on the day of her target killing, Sabeen’s activism was well in evidence, when she organised and hosted a discussion on the Balochistan issue titled ‘Unsilencing Balochistan’, and invited Mama Qadeer Baloch and his colleagues from the VoBMP group. “Earlier, this seminar was forcibly cancelled at the Lahore private university LUMS, but Sabeen did not accept such undemocratic curbs on academic freedom and the spirit of inquiry.”
The statement claims that voices for human rights, for freedom of expression, for free thinking, for academic and intellectual debate, are being systematically and ruthlessly silenced in Pakistan. “The list of those killed or attempted killings is growing longer and women are no exception.”