Asma nominated to UN team on human rights abuses in Sri Lanka

Published June 26, 2014
Asma Jahangir, among three, was selected to a panel of experts, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights announced. —Online File photo
Asma Jahangir, among three, was selected to a panel of experts, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights announced. —Online File photo

UNITED NATIONS: Asma Jahangir, the former president of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), has been nominated to a three-member panel to advise UN on alleged human rights violations committed during final stages of armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

Former president of Finland Maarti Ahtassari and former Governor-General and High Court judge of New Zealand Silvia Cartwright are other members of the distinguished panel of experts UN High Commissioner for Human Rights announced on Wednesday.

“I am proud that three such distinguished experts have agreed to assist this important and challenging investigation,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

“Each of them brings not only great experience and expertise, but the highest standards of integrity, independence, impartiality and objectivity to this task,” she added in a press statement.

The Sri Lankan government declared victory over the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, after a conflict that had raged on and off for nearly three decades and killed thousands of people.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2014

Opinion

Editorial

By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...
Not without reform
Updated 22 Apr, 2024

Not without reform

The problem with us is that our ruling elite is still trying to find a way around the tough reforms that will hit their privileges.
Raisi’s visit
22 Apr, 2024

Raisi’s visit

IRANIAN President Ebrahim Raisi, who begins his three-day trip to Pakistan today, will be visiting the country ...
Janus-faced
22 Apr, 2024

Janus-faced

THE US has done it again. While officially insisting it is committed to a peaceful resolution to the...