Peaceful, educated Chitrali youth languishing in jail on terror charges

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CHITRAL, Jan 29: Human rights activists, lawyers and civil society organizations will hold a rally in Chitral on Jan 30 to protest the registration of terrorism cases against educated and ‘peaceful’ youth of Chitral at the behest of the timer mafia.

[caption id="attachment_15817" align="alignleft" width="106"]Niaz A. Niazi Niaz A. Niazi[/caption]

Scores of people belonging to Ayun, most of them educated young men, are languishing in the Chitral and Timargarah jails after their arrest on the charge of terrorism about eight months back. The crime of these and many other residents of Ayun was that they had launched a protest against the brutal cutting of trees and smuggling of timber out of Chitral. However, at the behest of the timber mafia, they were booked by the local police on the the charge of terrorism.
Talking to this correspondent here, human rights activist Niaz A. Niazi, and convener of Youth Empowerment Forum Altaf Gohar Advocate said by registering the terrorism cases against the youth the police had violated all norms of decency and human rights. They said they would raise their voice in all forums against these human rights violations and misuse of power by the police due to which the youth remained behind bars for over eight months. They regretted that educated and law-abiding and peaceful youth had been made terrorists for no crime. It may be noted here that due to lack of awareness and civil society activism, police have always taken human rights in Chitral for granted and booked poeple on flimsy charges after taking bribe or on the presure of influential persons. It is high time awareness is created not only among the citizens but also among the police personnel about the values of human rights.—Nazir Hussain

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1 Comment
  1. Salahuddin Khisrow says

    Belated but positive move by the locals. I have personally met the people who have suffered a lot due to false charges of terrorism against them. Our judicial system proceeds with a snail’s speed and the opponents have taken advantage of this flaw. Justice should prevail and those responsible for the extra-judicial lock-up of innocent people should embrace heavy punishments.

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