Lahore, 4 June 2012: We the undersigned citizens, belonging to various sections of Pakistan’s civil society, express our serious concern and alarm at the information-leak from a responsible and highly credible source that there is a serious threat to the life of the country’s leading human rights activist and one of the most influential leaders of the bar, Ms Asma Jahangir. What makes the reported conspiracy to liquidate Asma Jahangir especially serious is, firstly, the environment of target-killings, in which dissident persons’ dead bodies are being dumped all over, and, secondly, the fact that the finger of accusation has been pointed at the extraordinarily privileged state actors. We wish to make it clear to all and sundry, especially those who preside over the security apparatus, that they must not under-estimate the consequences of any harm being caused to the life of Asma Jahangir. This is not a conspiracy against one individual alone; it is obviously a plot against Pakistan’s future as a democratic state, of which the threat to Asma Jahangir may be only one, though crucial, part. What the duty of the state in this matter is and how the civil society must face the challenge thrown to it need no elaboration.

  1. Justice ® Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim
  2. Dr. Mubashir Hassan
  3. Mr. I. A. Rehman
  4. Mr. Yasmin Azad, President SCBAP
  5. Akhtar Hussain President Pakistan Bar Council
  6. Ali Ahmad Kurd, former President SCBAP
  7. Mr. Tariq Mahmood former President SCBAP
  8. Mr. Muneer A Malik, former President SCBAP
  9. Lt. General ® Talat Masood
  10. Air Marshal ® Zafar Chaudhry
  11. Mr. Ahmed Rashid, author and senior journalist
  12. Mr. Latif Afridi, President High Court Bar Peshawar
  13. Mr. Shahryam Sarwar Chaudhry, President Lahore High Court Bar Association
  14. Mr. Zahoor Ahmad Shawani President Balochistan High Court Bar Association
  15. Sher Muhammad, President Malakand High Court Bar Association
  16. Mr. Azam Nazir Tarar, Member PBC
  17. Mr. Ehsan Bhoon Member PBC
  18. Justice ® Malik Saeed Hassan
  19. Mr. S.M. Masood former Law Minister
  20. Mr. Ehsan Wyne General Secretary, ANP
  21. Prof. Salima Hashmi
  22. Hina Jilani, Advocate
  23. Munir Kakar President Executive Committee Balochistan Bar Council
  24. Jugnu Mohsin, Editor Friday Times
  25. Mr. Kamran Shafi
  26. Kamran Arif Co-Chairperson HRCP
  27. Rashid Rehman, Editor Daily Times.
  28. Fareeda Shaheed
  29. Samina Rehman
  30. Prof. Dr. Mehdi Hassan
  31. Dr. Haroon Ahmed
  32. Saleem Asmi, former editor, Dawn
  33. Tahir Hassan vice Chairperson HRCP, Quetta
  34. Neelam Hussain
  35. Kishwar Naheed
  36. Khawar Mumtaz
  37. Nazish Ataullah former Principal NCA
  38. Ms. Shahtaj Qizilbash coordinator, Joint Action Committee.
  39. Nasreen Azhar
  40. Mr. Abbas Rashid
  41. Ms. Nighat Saeed.
  42. Mr. Sajid Bashir former President Lahore Bar Association
  43. Shahzad Hassan Sheikh former President Lahore Bar Association.
  44. Muhammad Tahseen, South Asia Partnership

Issued by

Zohra Yusuf

Chairperson, HRCP

I. A. Rehman

Secretary-General