Human rights activists blast Punjab govt over attacks

LAHORE: Human rights activists have severely criticised the Punjab government, with some even holding the provincial government responsible for Friday's terrorist attacks on two worship places of Ahmedis located in Model Town and Garhi Shahu. Several human rights activists said that Friday's terror attacks were "the result of a continuous hate and persecution campaign launched by the provincial government against Ahmedis". They said that Law Minister Rana Sanaullah's affiliation – reported by the media – with people from banned outfits in Jhang exposed the true face of the government. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Punjab Chairwoman Hina Jilani told Daily Times that the Punjab government has "completely failed" to protect minorities in the province and that Sanaullah's recent "parade" with representatives of banned outfits in Jhang had encouraged terrorists and had instilled an impression in the general public that extremists had influence over some segments of the government. "Even the media at times uses derogatory terms while referring to Ahmedis, especially at a time when they should be sympathised with considering the nature of today's heinous attacks," she said, adding, "A so-called religious programme on one of the biggest TV channels of the country and a recent tape attributed to TV anchor Hamid Mir incited hatred against Ahmedis… they played a vital role in taking things to the point where terrorists launched such attacks on them." She said Friday's attacks showed that not only did the country need to fight terrorism, but also intolerance. "HRCP is closely monitoring the role of the government in incidents where minorities are targeted and a report will be issued in this regard soon," Hina said. Separately, South Asian Partnership (SAP) Executive Director Muhammad Tehseen said that the reporting of the incident by a certain section of the media reinforced the unfair claims that Ahmedis were not a part of the nation. Senior activist, Mehboob Ahmad Khan, told Daily Times that the masses had seen the Punjab government shake hands with extremists and their bias against minorities had become apparent by the way in which the Gojra incident was handled. afnan khan


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