Pakistan Army rejects Amnesty report on rights abuses

The army on Friday rejected as baseless a recent report by the Amnesty International that journalists in the country are under “serious threat” from state security forces, some political parties and religious militant groups.

The Amnesty report says that several journalists claimed to have been threatened for reporting on the military, political parties or armed groups, but the authorities failed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The army dismissed the charges and described as an attempt to defame the Pakistani forces.

An army statement said that the report has baselessly maligned security Forces personnel allegedly involved in human rights abuses and media coercion.

“These reports are depiction of an overall agenda that is aimed at demeaning Pakistan and targeting/tarnishing the image of the security forces,” an army statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations said.

It said Pakistani security forces personnel are law abiding, cognizant of human rights obligations, and committed to provide protection to all segments of Pakistani society including journalists/ media personnel.

The London-based Amnesty said its 2013 annual report says that several journalists claimed to have been threatened for reporting on the military, political parties or armed groups, but the authorities failed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The report alleges that the “security forces continued to act with impunity and were accused of widespread human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, deaths in custody and extrajudicial executions targeting political activists, journalists, and suspected members of armed groups”.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=40357

Posted by Tahir Khan on May 24 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.