Islamabad: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has strongly criticized the sealing of the Islamabad office of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Pattan, calling it unacceptable.
HRCP, in a social media post, denounced the actions of Islamabad police and administration, calling them a violation of Article 14(1) of the Constitution. It further stated that such intimidation tactics against citizens were unacceptable and called for an immediate hearing on the matter.
On February 21, the Islamabad administration sealed the office of Pattan NGO, after which the administration and the government faced severe criticism from human rights organizations.
On the matter, Pattan issued a detailed press release stating that the residence of its National Coordinator, Sarwar Bari, had been sealed, and his family had been evicted.
Pattan condemned this move, stating that its punishment was being orchestrated for exposing electoral fraud in the February 2024 elections. The organization claimed that the justification provided for sealing its office was baseless.
Earlier this month, Pattan had released a report regarding the general elections held in February last year. The report highlighted 64 new methods of manipulation, coercion, and rigging in the elections.
The NGO’s press release further mentioned that following the release of its report on Pakistan’s general elections, Islamabad police had visited Sarwar Bari’s residence twice within two weeks. It stated that on February 21, more than a dozen police officers, accompanied by two magistrates, searched the residence, later sealing it and forcing his wife and a 90-year-old elderly woman, his aunt, to leave the house.
The press release noted that the three-line notice issued for sealing the office did not provide any substantial reasons. It merely stated that Pattan’s registration was canceled on November 19, 2019, and that it had been operating illegally since then, making the sealing of the office and legal action necessary.
However, the NGO refuted this claim, asserting that it had never received any notice regarding the cancellation of its registration. It also pointed out that during the alleged period of deregistration, the organization had carried out its work in the presence of government officials.
The press release also emphasized that sealing the National Coordinator’s residence and evicting his family were politically motivated actions that should be strongly condemned.
Meanwhile, Sarwar Bari, who is currently in London, said that his residence in Islamabad was sealed on Friday night in response to Pattan’s election-related report. His wife, Alia Bano, informed him that police officers, magistrates, and nearly two dozen officials from the Islamabad administration had participated in the action to shut down the property.
