KARACHI: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Saturday clarified that it did not participate in a press conference on Sept 5 which was called by some civil society organisations in support of provincial minister for women development, Shehla Raza, neither did it endorse any press statement on the subject.

“HRCP reiterates its belief in the equality of all citizens and condemns efforts to discriminate against and marginalise a section of minorities on the basis of their faith,” said a statement issued by Asad Iqbal Butt, vice chairperson, HRCP Sindh.

Meanwhile, Shujauddin Qureshi of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), which organised the press conference at the Karachi Press Club, said the press release which “we had prepared”, was issued to media and also distributed during the press conference.

“The PR contained the names [of those] who were contacted by PILER to attend it. There was also some confusion around the topic of the press conference as some understood this [to be] on issue of sexual harassment of university students,” the statement issued by the PILER official said.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2018