LAHORE, Feb 23: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has described the government's attempt to stop the holding of a seminar in Islamabad on Sunday and threats to prosecute some parliamentarians and eminent citizens as a very serious violation of fundamental rights.

In a press statement issued on Monday, HRCP secretary-general Hina Jilani warned the government of grave consequences if the people's freedoms of association and expression were suppressed. "What happened in Islamabad on Sunday is one of the worst instances of suppression of the people's fundamental rights," she said.

Some political parties had organized a seminar on the 17th amendment and its implications for federalism, a topic directly related to the country's basic interests. Permission to hold the seminar in the hall of Parliamentarians' Lodge had been granted.

On Saturday evening some officials decided to seal the hall as a way of making the holding of the meeting impossible. In their zeal to carry out this unwarranted operation the officials did not balk at locking up two parliamentarians inside the hall.

The organizers, speakers and participants were not allowed to enter the hall on Sunday, forcing the organizers to meet in the open. According to reports, 16 people were subsequently charged with violation of the law.

Ms Jilani said: "The HRCP believes that the only party that acted outside the law was the state functionaries who tried to sabotage a perfectly legal assembly inside a hall and for which permission had been issued and who shut a couple of parliamentarians in a hall during a cold night."

She said matters related to federalism were basic issues of the country and nobody had the authority to stop a discussion on them. "Such unbridled acts of coercion cannot be condoned, especially when Pakistan is supposed to have returned to the democratic path.

Since the organizers and speakers represented the less populous units of the federation, such incidents will send extremely unwelcome signals to the disadvantaged units and may impose dangerous strains on the state's integrity.

It is absolutely essential that those responsible for the incident should be taken to task, an apology offered to the organizers of the seminar, and steps taken to avoid recurrence. Full respect for civil liberties is a pre-requisite to the country's progress as well as responsible government," she concluded.