LAHORE, July 24: Police are showing ‘very little’ response to even extremely sensitive cases, says a meeting of the Punjab regional monitoring committee of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights.

The committee, which met here on Saturday with regional director Kishwar Shaheen Awan in chair, took up over two dozen cases of human rights violations

The home and police departments, also represented at the monthly meeting, stated that they would take care of expeditious response to serious cases in the future. The meeting was told that 15 of the listed cases had been disposed of and another six of them were under adjudication by courts of competent jurisdiction. Investigation was in progress in remaining cases.

A majority of these cases were referred to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs upon receiving them from the Pakistan embassies and high commissions in the European Union states, USA, Canada, the Middle East and other parts of the world on complaints by Pakistani immigrants.

The overseas Pakistanis invariably complain about the forcible occupation of their property by land mafia, broken marriages, and fraud committed by public utility departments. Complaints pertaining to honour killing, abduction, rape, domestic violence and other violation of fundamental rights are also reported to the ministry which has set up regional directorates and monitoring committees for redressal of grievances primarily with the help of police.

One of the cases referred by the British High Commission was that of Akram Masih who was charged by the Faisalabad police with blasphemy when he declined to accept the preaching of local clerics that he should renounce his religion to come into the folds of Islam. He is still languishing in police station on physical remand even after one month of the registration of an FIR against him. The HC was approached by the local Christian community.