ISLAMABAD: Amnesty International, a global human rights watchdog, on Tuesday urged the new Pakistani government to respect and ensure the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to place the country’s international human rights commitments at the forefront of its policies and decisions.
The development comes amid restrictions on demonstrations by political parties to protest results of Feb. 8 national election, arrests and trials of political workers and leaders, and social media disruptions.
In its statement, Amnesty International urged the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take concrete steps to address these concerns and to ensure its policies are in line with international norms.
“Unconditionally release all peaceful protesters under detention and ensure those under trial are given access to a fair trial as per international human rights standards,” it urged the Pakistani government.
“End excessive use of force against assemblies and protests through the adoption and implementation of international human rights standards, such as UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, for law enforcement agencies when dealing with protesters.”
Pakistan’s national election last month was marred by a nationwide mobile network outage and delays in the release of constituency results, which led to widespread allegations of vote-rigging.
Several political parties, particularly the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of jailed former premier Imran Khan, have since staged several demonstrations in the country to protest alleged rigging of polls.
While authorities deny any systematic rigging of polls, law enforcement agencies have cracked down on a number of these protests and briefly arrested several demonstrators.
In its statement, Amnesty International urged Islamabad to amend laws “criminalizing” the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.
“Repeal laws allowing blanket bans on assemblies, such as section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and other laws imposing authorization regimes requiring permits for assemblies and protests,” it added.
