Updated October 25th, 2019 at 12:41 IST
US expresses concern over detention of Gulalai Ismail's father in Pak
The US has expressed concern over the 'detention' of Pak women rights activist Gulalai Ismail's father in Pakistan and continued harassment faced by her family
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The United States has expressed concern over the 'detention' of Pakistani women rights activist Gulalai Ismail's father in Pakistan and continued harassment faced by her family. Taking to Twitter the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs on Friday has urged Pakistan to uphold the rights of citizens.
We are concerned by reports of the continued harassment of Gulalai Ismail’s family, and her father’s detention today. We encourage Pakistan to uphold citizens’ rights to peaceful assembly, expression, and due process. AGW
— State_SCA (@State_SCA)
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Retweeting the aforementioned tweet by Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Ismail wrote, "U.S State Department is concerned about the detention of my father. By persecuting citizens for exercising their human rights Pakistan is damaging its own reputation." Pakistani women rights activist Gulalai Ismail, who is currently in the US on Thursday said that her father was picked up by "men wearing militia dress" in Peshawar. Ismail termed the abduction of her father in Peshawar an attempt to terrorise the women of Pakistan and others who dare to use their "conditional rights".
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Around 19 hours ago my father was abducted from the premises of Peshawar High court,but there's a pin drop silence on mainstream Pakistani media. I've run out of words to condemn the criminal silence of media; it has become an ally of military in imposing unannounced martial law.
— Gulalai_Ismail (@Gulalai_Ismail)
"Abduction of my father is an attempt to terrorise women of Pakistan who've got fathers' backs; to stifle dissent, to terrorise people who dare use their conditional rights," the women rights activist has said in another tweet.
Ismail managed to escape Pakistan to seek political asylum in the United States in September after being accused of treason. She reached the US months after she was arrested and released for holding a protest demonstration outside the National Press Club in Islamabad.
READ | Pakistan Rights Activist Gulalai Ismail Seeks Political Asylum In US
About Gulalai's activism
Gulalai Ismail, the chairperson of Aware Girls, a non-governmental organisation, is a recipient of the International Humanist of the Year Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Gulalai, daughter of human rights activist Muhammad Ismail, co-founded the NGO Aware Girls in 2002 with her sister Saba Ismail. The objective behind setting up the NGO was to challenge the culture of violence and the oppression of women in the rural Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area in the north-west of Pakistan. In May 2019, Pakistan police had accused her of "seditious speeches and inciting people to attack state institutions”.
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(with ANI inputs)
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Published October 25th, 2019 at 09:55 IST