LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has voiced grave concern over the cavalier manner in which the concerned authorities closed down Lahore on Wednesday, apparently to prevent a protest.
“The HRCP is shocked by the manner in which the government chose to practically shut down the city in an attempt to regulate a protest in the provincial capital on Wednesday,” the commission said in a statement issued on Thursday.
“The HRCP has never been happy with the government’s method of crowd management and has repeatedly called for Pakistan to benefit from well-known recommendations, by experts working with the United Nations among others, on dealing with protests without resorting to excessive or disproportionate use of force or denying people the freedom of movement,” it said.
“While agitation or protests are regulated the world over, that is not done through shutting down the traffic. As the people spent up to three hours in traffic gridlock, they were neither been informed about the reasons for the closure of the city’s main arteries by placing shipping containers, nor were there any alternative routes. It appears that no effort was made to minimise road users’ suffering,” the statement said.
The commission said that the use of thoroughfares is a right that must not be denied to the people. “We hope that the government learns the right lessons from Wednesday’s debacle and develops a policy for the future that seeks to alleviate the people’s discomfort even when protests need to be regulated.”
