HRCP report on the Karachi carnage of May 12

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HRCP’s report on May 12, 2007 violence in Karachi

The aftermath of the events of May 12 has been filled with recrimination and bitterness. There were mutually conflicting claims about responsibility and culpability, and attempts at initiating processes of legal and political accountability. This report does not presume to pre-empt or anticipate the outcomes of the processes of accountability that have been initiated in the courts and elsewhere. Its aim is more limited. It attempts to create a record based on newspaper reports, testimonies and accounts provided by eyewitnesses and affidavits relating to the events in Karachi on May 12. Much of the material used in this report is already in the public domain. In the politically charged atmosphere that prevailed in the city, facts became contested almost as soon as they were first reported.

The report makes some useful recommendations as a way forward:

1. The events of May 12, 2007, in the Karachi once again confirm the culpability of the administration that allows the freedom of the city to gun-totting activists of parties in power, and demand firm measures to check recurrence of mayhem and chaos.
2. No civilized government can discriminate between public organizations by allowing one of them to make a mockery of law and order as it may wish and telling others to abandon their right to freedom of movement and assembly because it cannot control the former.
3. Media-persons readily accept the risks in on-the-spot overage of conflicts and disturbances, but they cannot be denied adequate security at their workplaces.
   Failure of authorities to protect media establishments against attacks from any quarter should be held reprehensible.
4. The admirable services rendered on May 12 by voluntary organizations and hospitals should not only be lauded and suitably rewarded but steps need to be taken to strengthen them helping them by acquire the necessary equipment and skills.
5. In view of the apparent and proven involvement of elements that are in or are close to government an inter-party parliamentary commission must be set up to probe the May 12 events, fix responsibility for murder, arson and lawlessness and pave the way for punishing the guilty.

Read the full text here

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Tags: administration, carnage, Chief Justice, HRCP, human rights, inquiry, Karachi, Lawyers, May 12, Media, MQM, Pakistan, violence