ISLAMABAD, May 15: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto has condemned violence against peace activists and citizens during a rally in Lahore organized to protest the rising incidents of crime and violence against women. Ms Bhutto condemned the manner in which the male police tried to tear the clothes of Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Rapporteur and former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The citizens rally, organized by the HRCP and the Joint Action Committee of the People’s Rights, was dispersed by the state agencies, which thrust dozens of activists into police vans and took them to the police stations.

Ms Jehangir and Iqbal Haider were among those, who were brutally tortured. Others who were roughed up and detained included Hina Jillani, Shahtaj Qazilbash, Tahseen Ahmad, Farooq Tariq and Joseph Francis.

The police claimed that they had received information about an impending assault on the citizens rally by the activists of Shabab-i-Milli, a wing of Jamat-i-Islami.

Earlier in the day, Ms Jehangir received a threatening call on her cell phone from someone claiming to be the president of Shabab-i-Milli, Ahmad Salman. But when she checked the authenticity of the call, the person at the other end told her that police had come to his shop and called her from there.

One police woman was heard telling Asma Jehangir: “We have orders to strip you in public and teach you a lesson.”

Ms Bhutto said instant punishment was meted out by vigilantes dressed up as police by humiliating women activists and dragging them to the police vans.

The PPP chairperson said the manner in which the HRCP secretary was treated was another indication of the tyrannical means being employed to deny citizens their constitutional right to freedom of movement, freedom of association and freedom of expression.

The Punjab police brutality was the third incident following the barbaric means used against PPP workers and parliamentarians and the mediapersons during the last one month.

The former premier said the pictures of Asma Jehangir and other women being roughed up by male police and with their clothes torn was a lasting shame for the claimants of moderation and tolerance. This should also convince the world of the true agenda of the rulers, she said.

She called upon the judiciary to protect the rights of the citizens and take action against those responsible for this barbarism.

She also urged the lawyers, the media and the human rights organizations to raise their voice against state violence against women.

Apma: All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (Apma) Chairman Shahbaz Bhatti on Sunday condemned the beating and arrest of human rights activists holding a peaceful marathon at Lahore.

“It is unjust, undemocratic and inhuman, Mr Bhatti said, adding that the police torture on human rights activists exposed the claim of “enlightened moderation’ and proved that the government had buckled under the pressure of the extremists.