HYDERABAD, April 1: The Amnesty International Pakistan, which is a member of global coalition on international criminal court, has urged the government to ensure that Pakistan was among the first 60 states to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In a letter addressed to President Pervez Musharraf, the secretary general, Amnesty International Pakistan, Iqbal Detho said that 60 countries of the world would ratify the Rome Statute on the occasion of the UN preparatory meeting on the ICC being held at New York on April 11.

He further said that any other country to ratify the statute apart from the 60 countries would also be considered among the first 60 countries which participate in the assembly of state parties (ASP).

Mr Detho pointed out that in the last half of the 20th century millions of people were killed which was a crime against humanity and came within the purview of war crimes but the perpetrators of these heinous crimes were not brought to justice.

He said that the ICC was not a substitute for national courts but it would exercise its jurisdiction only when the states failed to fulfil their responsibilities under international law.

He said the very existence of the ICC would act as a catalyst to inspire national legal systems and would act as a deterrent to crimes like genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

He urged the government to avail this historic opportunity and ratify the Rome Statute on April 11.

action: A poultry farm owner of village Moulvi Abdur Raheem, deh 244, taluka and district Mirpurkhas, Abdul Ghaffar, has threatened to commit self-immolation if the accused including a police wireless operator nominated in a dacoity FIR were not arrested.

He was speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Monday.

He alleged that on Feb 18, seven armed persons led by Mirpurkhas police wireless operator, Imran son of Aslam Arain, stormed his poultry farm in the jurisdiction of the Dilbar Mahar police, tortured his brother and decamped with chickens valued at Rs200,000 on a truck.

He said an FIR of dacoity was registered with the Dilbar Mahar police station.

He, however, said that the investigating officer, Ameer Azam Shah, tried to prove that the FIR was false, exonerated the main accused, Imran, and charged only two accused in the court of first judicial magistrate and FCM, Mirpurkhas.

Abdul Ghaffar said in this way the police saved their man and freed the four other accused after taking money from them.

He appealed to the President, Sindh governor, interior minister, IGP, Sindh, and AIGP, Hyderabad region, to take notice of the tyranny of the police and order the arrest of the remaining accused.