Says Religious Liberty and the Democratic Process are in Grave Danger 

By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ANS) – Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) blasted Pakistan’s crackdown on human rights defenders.

Franks’ prepared remarks were made regarding the state of emergency declared by President Pervez Musharraf on Nov.3.

One of the human rights defenders targeted was Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and Chairperson of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Jahangir was placed under house arrest on Nov. 4. Considered one of Pakistan’s top human rights defenders, she was one of the first women to become a lawyer and has been physically attacked by the police in Pakistan for her work promoting equal dignity and respect for women and religious minorities.

Franks said that Pakistan has long ignored the international human rights it committed to uphold as a member of the Human Rights Council. Jahangir’s detention further illustrates that, Franks stated.

He said, “Asma’s detainment only illustrates the growing, desperate need for the government of Pakistan to honestly reevaluate their current position as an ‘ally’ in the war on terrorism.” Pakistan’s own anti-blasphemy laws, and their support for resolutions in the UN that protect these laws, have contributed to an environment in which other UN member states are increasingly justifying limitations on human rights in order to prevent any offense to religious belief.”

Franks added, “Silencing human rights defenders throughout Pakistan will not help defeat the threat of Islamic terrorists, and Ms. Jahangir and others like her must be released immediately and unconditionally.”

In addition to Jahangir, the news release from Franks stated, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani, also had a house arrest warrant issued against her and is expected to be detained upon her return to Pakistan. Other members of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, members of the Supreme Court, and hundreds of judges, lawyers, and human rights advocates have also been placed under house arrest or detained.

Franks said in the release, “As all of this unfolds, the UN’s only response is calling upon the government of Pakistan to ‘clarify the status of those detained.’ Perhaps it is time to dismantle the platform whereby countries such as Pakistan get away with flaunting the most basic human rights they should be committed to upholding, unless they begin to protect the absolute foundation of human dignity upon which the UN was purportedly established.”

Franks said that Pakistan’s religious defamation laws are completely subjective and serve to undermine the essence of religious freedom and other basic human rights, including the rights of women and the freedom of expression.

He added, “Moreover, these laws have played into the hands of Islamic extremists who seek to impose their interpretation of Islamic law on everyone, preventing dissent within religious belief and open discussion of faith, ultimately exacerbating religious differences and intolerance.”

Franks noted that the Pakistani government has been criticized by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom for cutting a deal with radical Islamist parties, perpetuating abuses of religious freedom and other human rights, and as a result “strengthening the very extremists who incite participation in terror activity.”

Franks is serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Readiness Subcommittee, Committee on the Judiciary, and is Ranking Member on the Constitution Subcommittee.

For more information go to www.house.gov/franks