Alleging "unabashed rigging" in
last year's presidential referendum and "patently illegal" constitution
amendments to empower an "unelected" president in Pakistan, two major international
bodies have chastised the Pervez Musharraf regime for "blatant colonisation"
of Pak- occupied Kashmir, "erosion" of democratic governance and "breakdown"
of law and order.
"An inevitable fallout of the erosion
of democratic governance has been the unleashing of unprecedented violence
against minorities and other vulnerable groups," the Afro-Asian People's
Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO) and European Union of Public Relations
(EUPR) said at the recently concluded 55th session of UN sub-commission
on promotion and protection of human rights.
The two bodies, in their intervention
in the session on administration of justice and rule of law and democracy,
also blamed the Musharraf regime for "absence of democracy, rule of law
and justice in Pakistan" as well as its "blatant colonisation of PoK and
Gilgit-Baltistan".
"While a sham legislature has been
set up in PoK to create a facade of self-rule, even this fig leaf has been
denied to the people of Gilgit- Baltistan which remains in a constitutional
limbo having been annexed to the territory of Pakistan in complete disregard
of the hopes and aspirations of its people," Mohd Mumtaz Khan of AAPSO
and Mir Mohammad of EUPR, told the session which ended in Geneva on Friday.
The representatives of the two
world bodies alleged that reputed international institutions had said that
the people of Gilgit-Baltistan "lack representation in all decision-making
forums, the workings of which have been described as being shrouded in
mystery".
They pointed out that the chief
executive, who is Pakistan's minister for Kashmir affairs and northern
areas, was selected from the Pakistani parliament and was therefore "not
answerable to the people of either PoK or Gilgit-Baltistan".
Stating that "erosion" of democratic
governance had led to unleashing of "unprecedented violence" against minorities,
the AAPSO and EUPR representatives said Pakistani citizens also "continue
to suffer unprecedented brutality at the hands of police and paramilitary
forces" and quoted the recent instances of firing on farmers resisting
eviction from the Okara military farms in Punjab.
On minorities, they gave examples of gunning down of Shias in Quetta in July and earlier "targeted killings" of Christians.
Khan (AAPSO) and Mohammad (EUPR) also referred to the report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and said "extra-judicial killings have increased dramatically in number while those in police custody frequently face torture and illegal detention".
Demanding remedial measures, they
said the "steady erosion of democracy, rule of law and administration of
justice in Pakistan, PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan has led to the criminal abdication
of the state's basic responsibilities".