ISLAMABAD, July 5: An alliance of major civil society organisations on Thursday opposed amnesty for the administration of the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa. The alliance — Insani Huqooq Ittehad — called for proper documentation of every adult person leaving Jamia Hafsa to ensure that those involved in criminal activities were tried and brought to justice.
Members of the network, at a meeting expressed sorrow on the loss of precious human lives. They demanded that the leaders and administrators, particularly Ghazi Abdul Aziz, Abdul Rashid and the female principal of the seminary, should be arrested and brought to justice. And the militants who have openly challenged the law and terrorised innocent citizens should not be given general amnesty and “they must be brought to trial for the crimes they have been committing”.
They reiterated their earlier position that the government should have acted to establish rule of law in order to avoid escalation to the current dangerous situation that has resulted in loss of human lives. They condemned the policy of appeasement and opposed any future attempts to engage in negotiations with Jamia Hafsa leadership.
Expressing grave concern about the conditions of children caught in the crisis, they demanded that the government should distinguish between ‘adults’ and ‘children’ coming out of Jamia Hafsa buildings and every boy or girl under 18 years of age should be considered a ‘child’ as per United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that Pakistan is also signatory.
The network members were of the view that those children need to be provided urgent trauma counselling and other rehabilitation services. The network offered to send human rights monitors and trauma counsellors to meet with the affected children.
Realising the particular hardships that the people living in the immediate surrounding of Jamia Hafsa, the network demanded that the government should provide safe passage to the remaining residents and if needed allow relaxation in curfew timings to help the residents. The network also demanded that those who have incurred damages to property should be compensated duly.
The Insani Huqooq Ittehad members include the ActionAid, Allies in Trauma Relief, Bedari, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pattan, Potohar Development Organisation, Rozan, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Strengthening Participatory Organisation and Women Action Forum.
