(New York, June 21, 2003)
- The U.S. and Pakistani presidents should discuss democratic reform and an end to rights abuses in Pakistan, and reform of U.S. laws and policies introduced after September 11 that infringe on the rights of non-U.S. citizens, many of them Pakistani, Human Rights Watch urged today.
"President Bush is in a unique position to influence General Musharraf on Pakistan's poor human rights record. And General Musharraf should question President Bush about illegal detentions at Guantanamo and post-9/11 immigration policies that have violated the rights of non-citizens."
Brad Adams
Asia Division Director of Human Rights Watch
|
|
On the eve of their June 24 Camp David summit, Human Rights Watch sent separate letters to President George W. Bush and President General Pervez Musharraf, urging them to make human rights a priority on their agenda.
"President Bush is in a unique position to influence General Musharraf on Pakistan's poor human rights record," said Brad Adams, Asia Division Director of Human Rights Watch. "And General Musharraf should question President Bush about illegal detentions at Guantanamo and post-9/11 immigration policies that have violated the rights of non-citizens."
Since coming to power in 1999, General Musharraf has unilaterally imposed a series of far-reaching amendments to the Pakistan constitution under the Legal Framework Order (LFO). These amendments dramatically strengthen the power of the presidency, formalize the role of the army in governance, and diminish the authority of elected representatives. General Musharraf has been unwilling to give parliament the right to validate or reject the LFO and has thereby created a real constitutional crisis in Pakistan.
Opposition legislators have been tortured, harassed and persecuted for voicing their disagreement with these arbitrary changes to the Pakistani constitution. Meanwhile, in contrast to this extensive constitutional tampering, various laws discriminatory to women have been left intact.
Human Rights Watch urged the Bush administration to insist that the government of Pakistan take concrete measures to end its practice of using torture to stifle criticism and silence political opponents.
"Perpetrators of torture should be removed from Pakistan's security forces and prosecuted," said Adams. "President Bush must raise with Gen. Musharraf the troubling implications of the Legal Framework Order and ask for a timetable to genuine elections."
Human Rights Watch also urged General Musharraf to raise with President Bush the legal status of those people, including as many as 100 Pakistanis, detained at Guantanamo Bay. Human Rights Watch has called for the release of Taliban prisoners-of-war and others who have no connection to Al-Qaeda and who have not been criminally charged. Human Rights Watch has also raised serious concerns about the proposed military commissions authorized to try them.
"The Guantanamo detainees have disappeared into a black hole in the American legal system," said Adams. "The United States has an obligation to treat all detainees in accordance with international law, and Musharraf should tell Bush that."
President Bush has repeatedly said that the war against terrorism is a war of values, but has been unwilling to speak out in favor of those values with close anti-terror allies such as General Musharraf.
"By ignoring the clear mandates of international law, the United States invites every other country, including Pakistan, to do the same," said Adams.
|
