HRCP slams denial of travel to Mama Qadeer, 2 other activists

Lahore, March 5: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has slammed the denial of foreign travel to three Baloch human rights activists after the authorities informed them at the airport that their names had been added to the Exit Control List (ECL) reportedly on account of their anti-state activities.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Commission said: “HRCP is alarmed and greatly dismayed by the FIA authorities barring Mama Qadeer and two other Baloch human rights activists from traveling abroad when they were about to board a US-bound flight to attend a seminar on alleged violation of rights in Sindh and Balochistan.

“Mama Qadeer and the other two activists were informed at the airport that their names had been placed on the ECL on account of their anti-state activities. HRCP does not subscribe to the view that exposing human rights violations is an anti-state activity. The three activists have been raising their voice against enforced disappearances in the country for many years and have been protesting peacefully towards that end.

Also, in this day and age, it is ridiculous to try and prevent someone’s point of view from being heard simply by denying them to leave their country.

“Apart from the obvious denial of the freedom of movement, the decision to prevent them from traveling abroad is bound to add to the sense of deprivation felt by the Baloch. It also demonstrates the many difficulties that human rights defenders face in their work in the country.

“This manner of arbitrarily adding citizens’ names to the ECL has been severely criticised by the Supreme Court in the last few years and the government has committed on more than one occasion to introduce parameters to introduce safeguards to prevent abuse. The safeguards are meant to inform the individuals in question in time about inclusion of their names to the list in order to enable them to challenge the inclusion. HRCP hopes that someone in authority or the judiciary itself would see why that was not done in this case.

“HRCP calls upon the government to probe and share with the people who ordered the activists to be stopped and why and also to expressly underline its commitment not to hamper citizens’ freedom of movement in the future.”

 

 

Zohra Yusuf

Chairperson

Category: English