LAHORE, June 15: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has taken exception to the remarks made by a minister of state and an adviser to the prime minister on the role of NGOs. “The recent remarks by Minister of State for Interior Dr Shahzad Waseem in the Senate on the role of NGOs reflect the real thinking of the government,” the HRCP said in a release on Wednesday.

“Dr Shahzad Waseem and Neelofer Bakhtiar are in the first place guilty of misleading the house by telling it that Mukhtaran Mai is free.

“In fact, her movement remains restricted, and at a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, she was repeatedly prevented from speaking freely,” it said.

The HRCP demanded the resignation of both members of the government for misleading the Senate.

By accusing NGOs and their leaders of indulging in immorality, corruption and anti-national actions, the government had expressed its thinking regarding the civil society groups, and indeed all individuals or organizations who dissented from official view, it said.

Condemning the language used by the officials, the HRCP demanded that all groups in society, including those whose opinions diverged from that of the government, be permitted to work freely.

“Such plurality of opinion is essential within any democratic order,” the HRCP said, while reiterating its warning that attempts to curtail the freedom of civil society organizations could only add to the air of repression already prevailing in society, and the existing hostility between citizens and the state.