(New York) Human Rights Watch today condemned the mass arrests of political party leaders and activists in Punjab province by Pakistan's military government.
On the morning of March 20, the Pakistani government launched the third wave of mass political arrests since the October 1999 coup. The arrests apparently were made to forestall a rally planned for March 23 by the multiparty Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD).
"With crackdowns like this one, it's hard to see how Pakistani authorities expect their claims of progress to be taken seriously," said Sidney Jones, executive director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.
Police began detaining members of the parties that belonged to the ARD in raids on their homes at dawn, reportedly using lists of party members that had been compiled in advance. The search operations continued into the evening in Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city, and in neighboring districts of Punjab. As of Tuesday night, police claimed to have arrested between 150 and 250 persons in the raids. According to ARD leaders, 200 party members had been detained in Lahore alone and some 2,500 throughout Punjab.
Among those detained Tuesday were Khwaja Ahmad Ahsan, the former mayor of Lahore from the Pakistan Muslim League; Rai Ejaz Ahmad, the division president of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP); and Aslam Gill, a former Lahore president of the PPP. According to ARD leaders, police in several cases detained family members of persons whom they were unable to locate. Among them was the sister of Sajida Mir, the current Lahore president of the PPP. Scores of political party leaders and activists in the province have reportedly gone into hiding.
Most of the detentions were carried out under Section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance, which prohibits speech that "causes or is likely to cause fear or alarm to the public," or which "furthers or is likely to further any activity prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order." A legal aid committee established by the ARD filed a habeas corpus petition Tuesday in the Lahore High Court challenging the detention of party members under the ordinance.
In making the arrests, the police were preemptively enforcing an Interior Ministry order of March 2000 that prohibits all political meetings held in public places, political strikes, and processions.
"The standing ban on rallies violates rights to freedoms of expression and assembly under Pakistan's constitution and international human rights law," Jones said. "Its repeal is essential to the resumption of democratic processes in Pakistan."
The rally planned by the Alliance was scheduled to take place near Mochi Gate in Lahore on March 23, a national holiday known as Pakistan Day. ARD leaders were widely expected to deliver speeches at the rally calling on the government to hold elections to the national and provincial assemblies that were suspended in the immediate aftermath of the coup.
The ARD, formed on December 3, 2000, brought together the PML and the PPP, Pakistan's two largest political parties, in a rare alliance. But its effectiveness has been limited by a split in the PML between loyalists of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and dissidents, tacitly supported by the government, who are opposed to the party's membership in the ARD. Most of those arrested in the raids Tuesday were members of the PPP.
