KARACHI, Jan 9: The Women’s Action Forum on Wednesday condemned the murder of former premier Benazir Bhutto and held the state responsible for ensuring that due investigation and subsequent justice was provided for that crime.

At a press conference held in the Karachi Press Club, Anis Haroon of the Aurat Foundation and representatives of various other rights groups gathered under the umbrella of WAF, said the “disgraceful series of disinformation” following the assassination of Ms Bhutto merited the highest degree of condemnation.

They particularly noted that WAF was offended by the media advertisements such as those issued by the PML-Q, giving “false inflammatory information” designed to fuel ethnic tensions.

“This is morally irresponsible as well as unacceptable and WAF is shocked at the participation of Mehnaz Rafi, who is part of such campaigns of disinformation especially on the question of women,” said Ms Haroon.

The speakers condemned the mass arrest of PPP activists and other unwarranted lodging of FIRs against citizens in Sindh as an intimidatory act against basic human rights. They also condemned the setting up of complaint centres for compensation for the damage done after Dec 27 under the auspices of political parties rather than autonomous neutral bodies and also slammed the setting up of refugee camps in Lahore for people of Sindh affected by violence resulting from Ms Bhutto’s assassination.

WAF leaders demanded immediate steps to ensure fair and just investigation of Ms Bhutto’s murder and all previous acts of violence, including those witnessed on May 12 and Oct 18 in Karachi.

“If this entails the assistance of international agencies such as the United Nations, it must be solicited immediately,” said one of the written demands handed to the media.

“If irresponsible defamatory comments and attempts are made by political parties and their representatives, then legal proceedings will be initiated against them, including the PML-Q’s recent advertisements.”

They said the human rights abuses of arresting citizens without due process and access to justice must be stopped by the government with immediate effect. WAF leaders appealed to rights lawyers and activists to assist the victims.

They demanded that the government with the participation and involvement of civil society organisations be directly responsible for the submission of damage complaints in independent centres rather than relying on ‘parochial parties’ to run these outlets. They also asked to government to provide centres in the respective districts in Sindh rather than diluting the autonomy of Sindh by setting up camps in other provinces, “which is contradictory to humanitarian assistance with no other logical base”.

The organisers later screened a video clip in which interviews of many people were shown in which they appreciated the hospitability of local Sindhis. In a shot, a train carrying 2,500 passengers to Punjab was stopped at Jalal Marri station near Tando Adam. It was narrated that all the passengers were provided shelter by the locals. Besides, they were provided with food and medicines during the three days of riots and all of them remained out of harm’s way.