Human Rights Protection Council

Perviaz Gujar was kidnapped, tortured and finally murdered in the name of honour. Haji Mohammad Yaqoob Khan, a prominent political figure in Azad Kashmir, is patronising local criminal elements and is believed to have also made plans to murder the love of Perviaz's life, Miss Raita. Meanwhile, Perviaz's relatives are being pressured to withdraw the case they have lodged with the court.

Perviaz, a resident of the village of Ali Sojal, a part of Tehsil in the district of Rawalakot in Azad Kashmir, was deeply in love with Raita, a niece of Haji Mohammad Yaqoob Khan, a rich Muslim Conference leader. Perviaz is not from the majority Suddhan tribe though, and thus, he was treated like a member of a minority group and was refused permission to marry Raita as a result. The couple, however, managed to have a secret marriage. During this period, Raita became pregnant.

Haji Mohammad Yaqoob Khan and his relatives made it a question of their honour and kidnapped Perviz and tortured him for three days. He escaped and fled to his home, but the next day one of Haji Yaqoob's relatives, Ashraf, came to Pervez's house early in the morning and took him outside the house at gunpoint where he was murdered. No one though was allowed to provide him with any medical assistance. This was not the end, however, but the beginning of the barbarism in the name of honour in the wake of which the traditional Suddhan tribe has not only planned to kill other relatives of the deceased but are determined to murder Raita who is pregnant and whose killing will be a dual murder.

Meanwhile, complete lawlessness prevails in the Suddhan tribe-dominated area. Perviaz's murderer is enjoying the protection of his brother-in-law Haji Mohammad Yaqoob Khan, vice president of the All-Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference and ex-minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and also a close relative of the president of Azad Kashmir, Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan. The entire administrative structure of the region is under the control of the Suddhan tribe, which has become the gods of the day, and the minority tribes of the area are treated like slaves. Incidents of kidnapping, murder and torture are features of the regionÐlawlessness which is neither registered by the police nor reported by the press because of pressure from leaders of the majority tribe. For instance, the kidnapping of Ashiq Hussain, editor of KPI, last year by the men of Haji Mohammad Ashraf, the minister for revenue in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, is a clear reflection of the pressure that reporters face.

Now when the world has entered the 21st century and when the information technology-oriented media has made the world a global village, the miseries of social injustice of the minority tribes of Rawalakot in Azad Kashmir are disguised even from the eyes of international human rights organisations.

In an incident of extreme barbarism, for example, the women of about 10 families of the minority tribe were raped along roads in broad daylight in the village of Toppa by the terrorists of the Suddhan tribe in Rawalakot several years ago. Members of the minority tribe travelled to Islamabad to seek justice, but their efforts were ineffective against the influence of the men of the Suddhan tribe, like Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, president of Azad Kashmir, and Sardar Khalid Ibrahim, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Azad Kashmir.

Non-Existence of Human Rights Groups

There is no permanent human rights group in the area. The situation is alarming, and there is an urgent need for such a group, particularly in rural communities. The Human Rights Protection Council (HRPC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir is a newly established human rights group. A study group is working in the area to collect incidents of human rights violations; but because of a lack of resources, it is not possible for HRPC to launch a study group on a permanent basis. An international human rights group is encouraged to become involved to study violations in the area in collaboration with HRPC and to submit its recommendations to other international human rights organisations. At this stage, a high-level intervention with worldwide circulation of the findings will not only help the people in the area but will also help counter the influential interference in the legal process of the Suddhan tribe and will help persuade the government of Pakistan to take action. An early response is urgently solicited to save the people in the area.