World leaders urged to tackle Musharraf

24 January 2008, 11:24AM

Our Secretary General has written to world political and business leaders, calling on them to raise Pakistan's human rights situation with President Musharraf at this week's World Economic Forum (WEF).

In the letter, Irene Khan urges the leaders to make human rights and rule of law in Pakistan a central theme in their discussions with the President.

President Musharraf is expected to stay at the forum’s annual meeting, in Davos, Switzerland, until it ends on Sunday. He is likely to meet with many of the 2,500 political, economic and media leaders from 88 countries at the meeting.

Our letter urges the leaders present to use their utmost influence to get Pakistan's government to immediately agree to uphold human rights and maintain rule of law. It calls for the return to service of judges removed during emergency rule and the guarantee of an independent judiciary, as enshrined in its constitution and international law.

In addition, Irene Khan urges them to appeal to President Musharraf that his government puts an end to the human rights abuses documented by Amnesty International - which include arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearance and ill-treatment of those in custody, as well as persecution of government critics and opposition. These measures can help build confidence and hope among the people to establish stability and prosperity in the country.

We have conducted research in Pakistan over the past month to assess the human rights situation, following the lifting of the state of emergency on 15 December last year.

We collected a wealth of evidence on human rights violations and the breakdown of rule of law, which are sowing the seeds of a political catastrophe, with devastating consequences for ordinary people, Irene Khan wrote.

She will also attend the WEF where she will seek to raise a range of human rights issues with the participants, including, but not limited to, the situation in Pakistan.

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