KARACHI, April 11: A Hong Kong-based rights group has accused Islamabad of tolerating anarchy and chaos created by fundamentalists to divert attention from the judicial crisis.

In a press statement issued on Wednesday, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), said a radical leader running a mosque and its affiliated seminaries had greatly increased his influence in Islamabad after the mass protests throughout the country against President Musharraf’s action against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

“The male and female students and leaders of Lal Masjid and its affiliated seminaries, Hafsa and Faridia, are roaming the streets of the capital with sticks, threatening people to observe Shariah laws,” it said. The statement said the suicide attacks threats and deadline given to the government to enforce Shariah coupled with sectarian violence in Parachinar had created a sense of insecurity among citizens throughout the country.

The AHRC statement said, “apparently the government has a friendly relationship with the officials of Lal Masjid, its affiliated seminaries and is allowing them a free hand to challenge the very basis of a civil society.” It pointed out President General Pervez Musharraf had been taking military action against the people of Balochistan since 2001 for ‘their resistance against the construction of cantonments on their soil. But, in complete contrast to this hard line, he has announced that his government is willing to negotiate with fundamentalist militants in the capital city rather than taking action against them.”

The AHRC expressed concern about the military government’s ‘Islamic Shariah movement in Islamabad and sectarian violence in northern parts of the country and Karachi to divert the people’s attention from the judicial crisis.’’ The AHRC urged the people of Pakistan, the United Nations and the international community to understand the magnitude of the problem and respond appropriately.

— Staff Reporter