ASIA/PAKISTAN - There is urgent need to protect human right defenders

Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) – There is urgent need to protect human right defenders in Pakistan: is the appeal launched by the Government to civil society and international organizations such as "Christian Solidarity Worldwide". The call comes following the murder of Muslim activist Zafar Lund on July 14. Lund was hit in the head by unidentified assailants and died outside his house in Kot Addu, in Punjab province. He was the founder of a civil society forum that aims to protect the rights of communities that live thanks to its proximity with the Indus River in Kot Addu, but also education and children's rights.
"The violence against activists for human rights across Pakistan has been on the rise. There are threats and intimidation of human rights defenders in Pakistan by state and non-state actors", says the civil society forum, which recommends the "government of Pakistan to fight the culture of impunity and bring to justice all those responsible for attacks and threats against lawyers, intellectuals, judges and human right defenders".
Among the latest killings, on 7 May Khurram Zaki, a human rights activist and publisher, was killed by four unknown men in Karachi. Zaki was among the civil society activists who in January filed a complaint against Maulana Abdul Aziz, the religious of Lal Masjid, the well-known "Red Mosque" in Karachi, accused of inciting and instilling sectarian hatred and violence in children and young people. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 16/07/2016)

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violence

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terrorism

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human rights

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