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HYDERABAD, Nov 7: The Joint Action Committee, an alliance of NGOs, on Wednesday condemned the imposition of emergency and termed it an attack on the fundamental human rights and freedom of press.
The committee’s coordinator Zain Daudpoto said while presiding over the committee’s meeting that Martial Law, in the garb of emergency, had been imposed and one individual had deprived tens of millions of Pakistanis of their fundamental rights to protect his seat of power.
The meeting praised Mr Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Choudhry and the judges who refused to bargain on fundamental human rights and said that the only way to pull the country out of this morass was a united struggle by civil society, political and social welfare organisations, media, lawyers, trade unions and peasants.
The committee slammed restrictions on print and electronic media and demanded that the emergency should be lifted, constitution should be restored and all the arrested people including lawyers should be released.
The meeting was attended by Zulfiqar Shah of South Asia Partnership, Punhal Sario of Indus Development Organisation, Mustafa Baloch of Strengthening Participatory Organisation, Khalil Qazi, Ghaffar Mallah, Wahab Pandrani and Ramzan Memon.
JI: Ameer of the Hyderabad chapter of Jamaat-i-Islami, Shaikh Shoukat Ali, directed party office-bearers and workers to prepare themselves for sacrifices for the restoration of democracy and human rights in the country, said a press release issued on Wednesday.
He said that the imposition of emergency was an attack on the very foundations of Pakistan and if general elections were held under the umbrella of emergency they would be nothing but a farce.
He said that present assemblies had been kept intact because they were just rubber stamps and paid tributes to Mr Justice Iftikhar and 70 per cent of other judges who made the nation proud by supporting democratic forces.
JUP: The senior vice-president of Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan, Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, on Wednesday strongly criticised the arrest of judges, lawyers and journalists and police raids on the houses of political workers had defamed Pakistan in the eyes of the world.
He said in a faxed statement that the imposition of emergency had destroyed the economy and demanded that the government should lift the emergency and restrictions on TV channels and hold elections according to schedule.
