LAHORE, July 21: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has cautioned the government against using the battle against terrorism for creating a reign of fear in the country. Criticizing a raid on a women’s seminary in Islamabad, HRCP secretary general Syed Iqbal Haider said the forced entry of policemen and causing injuries to some of the students as a result of the action could not be condoned. Suspension of officers involved in the raid was not enough. Intimidation and harassment of women and failure to respect their rights and dignities had increasingly emerged as a pattern in recent months.

It was necessary to discourage the trend immediately and take steps to ensure that no action carried out in the name of preserving the law violated it or the basic dictates of human rights, he added.

He said the HRCP strongly believed that it was the obligation of the government to tackle terrorism provided that this was done while keeping within the law. There could be no excuse for using batons against the terrified students at a seminary, entering it by force without seeking the permission of the administration or failing to take women police along.

The battle against terrorism could not be used as a licence to create a reign of fear in the country as this could only work in favour of the militants by deepening the existing feelings of persecution.