PTI govt quotes HRW when convenient, says Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday slammed the government by alleging that it loved to quote the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the Kashmir issue but not on Pakistan’s internal human rights abuses.

The PPP leader’s statement came in light of the recent report of the Human Rights Watch on human rights abuses allegedly being carried out by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

“Human rights watch calls out NAB political victimisation of political parties and media. Mentions Saad Rafique, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, myself and my father. We love to quote HRW on Kashmir but ignore them on Pakistan,” he wrote on Twitter.

A day earlier, the HRW had urged the Pakistani authorities to stop using NAB — referring to it as “a dictatorship-era body, possessing draconian and arbitrary powers” — to harass and intimidate opponents. HRW mentioned the arrest and detention of veteran journalist Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman by NAB, who is in the anti-graft body’s custody since March. “The National Accountability Bureau arrested Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, editor-in-chief of the Jang group, the largest media group in Pakistan, in Lahore on March 12 on charges relating to a 34-year-old property transaction. He has remained in the agency’s custody ever since,” said the body. It spoke of Asif Zardari, who had to appear in person after the anti-graft body denied his request to record a statement through a video link because of his ill-health.