Daily Times
May 10, 2021
LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has strongly condemned the brutal terrorist attack on a girls’ school in Kabul on Saturday, which cost over 60 lives most of them, young students, said a statement issued on Monday.
The statement issued on behalf of HRCP Chairperson Hina Jilani said that the incident is a grim reminder of the carnage wrought during the APS attack in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2014. “It also underlines the perpetual threat to women in Afghanistan, in light of recent attacks targeting women. In January, two women judges were killed by unknown gunmen in an ambush. In March, three women who worked for a local Afghan radio and TV station were shot dead in Jalalabad,” the statement added.
Repealing blasphemy laws impossible, Pakistani Christians told
Event to commemorate martyr bishop is told that Christians must learn to manage draconian laws
Supporters of religious group Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nubuwwat march during a rally in Peshawar in July 2020 in support of Khalid Khan, who shot dead a man accused of blasphemy in a courtroom. (Photo: AFP)
Catholic priests and nuns at a recent debate on minority rights urged Christians in Pakistan to avoid demanding the repeal of blasphemy laws.
“It is impossible to abolish blasphemy laws. Our struggle to end it will fail. It is wrong to raise such slogans. It creates unrest. We are heralds of hope but we should not give false hope to others. People don’t listen,” said Father Khalid Rashid Asi, director of the Diocesan Commission for Harmony and Interfaith Dialogue in Faisalabad Diocese.
IA Rehman the non-conformist humanitarian
“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind” Jim Morrison.
On an oppressive August day back in 1986, after shifting from Karachi to Lahore, my husband took me to the offices of the Viewpoint magazine at 4A Lawrence Road to meet his former colleagues. The very first question Mr IA Rehman [Ibn Abdur Rehman, popularly known as Rehman Sahib] asked me, with that signature twinkle in his eyes was, “So, how is Lahore treating you?” One single question, yet so full of hospitality, concern and above all, camaraderie, that it swept me off my feet. That singular brush with this titan of print media journalism left me awestruck. He appeared to be the most unassuming character, someone who could easily pass for a ‘commoner’ in a crowd while keeping his larger-than-life personality intact. As many others have said before me, Rehman Sahib was the kind of person whom one could proudly introduce – not just as a prominent professional –
Zubeida Mustafa
ONE aspect of I.A. Rehman’s priceless legacy was his restless spirit that drove him to champion the cause of freedom and human rights in Pakistan. The huge community of human rights activists in the country drew inspiration from his rational and encouraging leadership.
Many of us his juniors were constantly turning to him to draw from his limitless pool of knowledge and saw him as a pillar of strength. In the gloom that followed his death I felt comforted when I received a book of poetry that resonated with me. It touched the same causes Rehman Sahib had inspired us to espouse. Titled Eik Subh Aur Aaygi and containing 103 poems by Anis Haroon, the book is a powerful statement on the sad state of human rights in Pakistan that has brought the country to the brink of a catastrophe.