HYDERABAD: Amnesty criticizes US for opting out of ICC Treaty
Bureau Report
HYDERABAD, May 8: The Amnesty International (AI), Pakistan, has expressed shock over the US refusal to sign the International Criminal Court (ICC) Treaty (Rome Statute).
The AI said that the refusal had come at a time when the world wanted its early establishment for bringing perpetrators of international heinous crimes to justice
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the secretary general of the AI, Iqbal A. Detho, said that he was surprised over the the American government’s policy statement which was aimed at punishing war criminals and those who committed crimes against humanity.
He said that on the one hand the American government wanted to punish war criminals, wage a war against global terrorism by giving a licence to kill to its troops abroad and on the other hand it wanted to opt out of the ICC.
He said that the ICC would not undermine the UN Security Council as the US thought and added that it recognized the role of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security.
Mr Detho said that the Security Council, by invoking chapter VII of the UN charter, could order for initiation or deferment of an investigation or prosecution for a period of 12 months to ensure its peace making efforts.
He said the ICC would not infringe on the jurisdiction of national courts but would act only when the courts were unable or unwilling to exercise their jurisdiction.
He added that the coalition was calling upon member states of the UN to strengthen their criminals justice system and accept universal jurisdiction for eradicating impunity at national and international level through the ICC.
It may be mentioned here that the AI is a member of a coalition of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which has a network of more than 1000 civil society organizations around the world.
SAUTA: The executive council of the Sindh Agriculture University Teachers Association (SAUTA), Tando Jam, at a meeting held on Monday, expressed concern over the alleged threats issued to the office-bearers of the teachers association and other faculty members by the vice chancellor.
The meeting adopted a resolution, which was also faxed to Dawn, which said that the executive council was of the considered opinion that the autocratic and unilateral polices of Vice Chancellor Dr Bashir Ahmed Chandio had led to crisis in the statutory bodies and infrastructure of the campus as he was lacking in academic and intellectual leadership.
The resolution said that the vice chancellor believed in arbitrary powers and its exercise to harass the faculty that pinpointed his wrong polices to the higher authorities.
The council called upon the vice chancellor to stop sending threats to the academics and fabricated reports to the higher authorities against the faculty members.
In another resolution, the council asked the chancellor/Sindh governor to suspend the so-called emergency powers of the vice chancellor which were exercised without genuine grounds.
