LAHORE - The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has condemned the burglary-style raid on April 16 in Islamabad at the house of the editor of its ‘State of Human Rights’ report.
In a statement issued here Friday, the commission said at about 8.45pm, two armed men broke into the house of Maryam Hasan, editor of HRCP’s annual report, took away her laptop, two hard drives and two mobile phones as well as some jewellery and cash. They told Maryam Hasan, who lives alone, that they had also come the day before, but did not commit burglary as she had not been at home. They questioned Maryam about her professional engagements and intimidated her. They finally left at 10pm.
HRCP suspected the two suave raiders were no ordinary thieves and called upon the Punjab government to apprehend the culprits and establish their identity. The HRCP would hold the provincial authorities responsible for any attempt by state or non-state actors to harass any person associated with the Commission, it warned.
A police officer, when contacted, said they were investigating the matter. However, he said that the victim party did not file any complaint with the local police so far. “We will take action and launch criminal investigation once the victim will file a complaint with the police,” the officer said and requested his name not be mentioned.