On April 2, 2018, the world witnessed another ISIS terrorist movement attack targeting Christian minorities in Pakistan. The April 2 ISIS terrorist attack on Pakistan Christian minorities once again took place in the Balochistan province’s Quetta, where a number of Pakistan Christian minorities are concentrated. This attack took place the day after the Christian holiday of Easter Sunday on Monday April 2, 2018. ISIS terrorists on motorbike killed 7 people including murder of 4 Christian minorities in a rickshaw. Once again, the ISIS terrorist movement claimed responsibility for this terror attack.
“It appears to have been a targeted attack,” provincial police official Moazzam Jah Ansari told Reuters. “It was an act of terrorism.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) extends its condolences and prayers for the victims and loved ones of yet another horrific act of terrorism. Terrorism is an attack on the shared Universal Human Rights of all of our fellow human beings, and is assault on the Universal Human Rights of all people. We must all reject terrorism and the extremist ideolodgies and promoting such terror anywhere in the world.
by Mary Ann Imm’s son, Jeffrey.
March 19, 2018 – a year after Mary Ann Imm passed away, and whose life was testament to Justice and Real Courage.
For too long, we have let bullies, the arrogant, and thugs act as the pretender voices of Justice.
They have abused their authority, power, and position given by the people for their own purposes.
The price of allowing them to be “voice” on Justice has been steep.
We have too many, across our generations, who question if there is any such thing as Justice anymore.
We need different voices. We need responsible voices. We need voices with a conscience, compassion, and an Outstretched Hand.
Our friends in faith may ask why should we look for Earthly justice, when the only real justice is in their eternal faith.
But no religion of peace wants us to hate one another, and act with conscious injustice towards one another here.
We can and we must – do better.
My own path to justice started with failure, inability to defeat a mob against my brother, as a young boy – outnumbered by vicious adults.
I could have allowed my life to be defined by Justice with an Upraised Fist – like so many others.
Like today’s bullies, I could have justified every weapon, every cruelty, every hostile act, every abuse of authority – as justification for a form of “Justice.”
But I know better. Because I KNOW Justice.
I have seen what Justice truly looks like – fearless, responsible, and most importantly – compassionate, Justice.
My mother was a policewoman without a gun – protecting children every day.
She protected them not with bullets, but with virtue.
She protected them not with venom and hate, or even an upraised fist, but with an outstretched palm – reminding offenders of the Law, and setting a living example for what Justice truly is.
Even when she faced her own mortal challenges, and struggles with Alzheimer’s Disease, she never forgot her commitment to Justice, defending the vulnerable anywhere she went.
The face of courage is an elderly woman defending a crying child who is afraid of a bully – a bully that did not learn Justice begins with compassion – especially to the weak and vulnerable.
Today, we see those individuals who profane the term “Justice,” by abuse, arrogance, viciousness, cowardice, and manipulation.
For those who have never seen “Justice,” let me stand in testament to you – such disgrace is not “Justice.”
Those abusing Justice not only abuse the idea of Justice to our public.
They also undermine the courageous acts of compassion by men and women across the nation who give their lives for the protection of others.
Someone needs to speak out for the many who are anonymous sentinels defending the law and safety of the public.
These people you may never get to know are the real face of Justice in our nation.
They offer an Outstretched Hand, not an Upraised Fist – to a society they seek to serve and defend.
When we lose one of our Earthly defenders of Justice, it is heartbreaking.
But if we can remember the lessons we learned from them, we can keep their commitment to Justice Alive.
There has been a widespread concern of child sexual grooming victims in the UK Shropshire area in the town of Telford.
The BBC reported that “West Mercia Police said it was currently working with about 46 people who were victims or at risk.”
The Telegraph has also reported there are currently “46 sexual exploitation cases” being actively investigated, and reported that yet another victim had come forward. The Telegraph also reported that the West Mercia Police “force said more than 100 girls could have been targeted by the gang between 2007 and 2009.”
In addition, the Sunday Mirror reported that up to 1,000 girls in the Shropshire town could have been victims of child sexual exploitation (CSE) since the 1980s.”
BBC reported that the West Mercia Police Supt Tom Harding stated: “I significantly dispute the 1,000-plus figure, and do feel it is sensationalised.” The Sunday Mirror report was critical of an alleged internal police memorandum allegedly claiming “in most cases the sex is consensual.” The Sunday Mirror report quoted concerns by child abuse specialist Dino Nocivelli, reporting: “Some of the victims were just 11 years old and specialist child abuse lawyer Dino Nocivelli said: ‘This is victim blaming at its worst. The authorities just don’t seem to get it. Children cannot agree to sex. Just because a child is not being physically forced to carry out sexual acts, it doesn’t mean they consented.'”
On March 15, 2018, Quilliam Foundation activitist Maajid Nawaz spoke on Sky News stating he was critical of the “drag” and posted on Twitter on March 17, 2018 that he was critical of “politicians’ despicable neglect of the Telford grooming scandal.”
Help and Support. For help and support if you’re a victim of sexual assault contact organizations such as
Today, we see one of the gravest attacks on our universal human rights on a massive population in modern history. But as 1,413,342,905 officially now have any last vesitiges or possibility of democratic leadership removed from them, much of the world is silent. Too many of the human rights activist groups are silent. March 11, 2018 will be another historic date of contempt for human rights of Chinese people, alongside other dates such as the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre (六四事件).
The repression and persecution of our fellow human beings in China is an attack on the Universal Human Rights for all. Xi Jingping’s war on human rights must be condemned by all people of conscience.
President Xi Jingping has been elected for two terms, with a second “election” (unopposed) as president by the PRC NPC earlier this month on March 5, 2018. There was previously a term limit of 10 years for the PRC President, which has now been removed from that nation’s constitution. The new change to the PRC Constitution by the CPC will now allow Xi Jingping to continue to run (unopposed) for the rest of his life.
The Communist-led PRC (aka “Communist China”) has for many decades been an authoritarian Communist nation with totalitarian treatment of every aspect of the lives of its citizens, totalitarian controls, totalitarian re-education camps, totalitarian censorship and control of speech and press, and totalitarian surveillance measures.
Today, the Chinese people that dare to speak out against the dictator Xi Jingping are quickly silenced and censored, as if their views and concerns never existed.
The Democrat-Gazette reports that: “Shaken by the proposal to eliminate term limits, Ma Bo, a renowned writer, wrote a social media post urging China’s ruling Communist Party to remember the history of unchecked one-man rule that ended in catastrophe. ‘History is regressing badly,’ Ma wrote in his post. “As a Chinese of conscience, I cannot stay silent!’ There’s a lot of fear,” said Ma, who writes under the pen name Old Ghost. ‘People know that [President Xi Jinping]’s about to become the emperor, so they don’t dare cross his path. Most people are just watching, observing.’ ” But it concludes that “Censors silenced him anyway, swiftly wiping his post from the Internet.”
Wu’er Kaixi, a prominent Chinese dissident who fled into exile after helping lead the 1989 Tiananmen protests, has told the Guardian that “It will get worse, for sure … the consequences will be very severe.”
Guardian reports on PRC’s Xi Jingping efforts to become “Dictator for Life” over 1.4 billion people
Another 1989 Tiananmen protest democracy activist Wang Dan, who R.E.A.L. has met and supported in previous protests for democracy in China has issued an emergency statement on the dictatorship. Wang Dan’s emergency statement calls on those who “call on all those who oppose the Chinese Communist party efforts to rebuild the empire and restore the autocratic rule, to stand up bravely at such a critical historical moment, by means of a co-sponsorship.” Wang Dan’s emergency statement urges support from the world, stating: “We call on the Chinese and foreign countries to adopt various ways in which they will be opposed to the establishment of a system of heads of state for a lifetime dictatorship, as an opportunity to promote the establishment and growth of civil society, to establish a constitutional democratic rule of law in the future, and to, equality, rights and well-being, for the fair justice of Chinese society, and work together!”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands with those who continue to seek democracy and human rights for the Chinese people in the PRC, as we do with our fellow human beings around the world.
There are not separate struggles in diverse nations or with different people for our shared Universal Human Rights, but there is ONE SHARED STRUGGLE for all of us together as fellow human beings for our Universal Human Rights for all.
While too many confused individuals in privileged countries that enjoy freedom, free speech, dignity, and human rights may view that the PRC’s Communist totalitarian controls over the lives of Chinese people are merely “socialist measures,” the reality for the human rights community remains that Communist China’s totalitarian measures and regime has been and continues to be an enemy to our shared, universal human rights.
Since 2009, as an organizational entity, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has been advocating for human rights, democracy, and freedom for the persecuted Chinese people in Communist China. R.E.A.L.’s founder has been an activist for such causes in Communist China since 1989. R.E.A.L. does not believe that we can find global peace, security, and a consistent position on universal human rights, if we ignore the persecution and attacks on democratic Human Rights of over 1.4 BILLION Chinese people.
On this day, as we have said many times before, and will continue to say – we call upon the Communist Chinese authorities to:
FREE CHINA NOW.
現在免費的中國
R.E.A.L. calls for the human rights community to protest and demonstrate the outrage of Xi Jingping assuming a role as dictator over 1,413,342,905 of our fellow human beings.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has directly reached out to the United Nations, to the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and to the United Nations Human Rights Office fo the High Commissioner (OHCHR), and received deafening silence in response from the U.N., which states it commitment to democracy, and a democratic rights in our Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On this day, when 1.4 BILLION of our fellow human beings’ human rights were lost to a dictatorship, the United Nations did and said nothing. In this most critical test, the United Nations and its leadership has failed. Nor is this a small failure. It is a failure to 1.4 billion fellow human beings – a sizable part of the population of Earth’s people. Where can our international forces for peace and human rights go from this failure of a historic nature? We must again challenge the leadership of the United Nations to act in the role of the now dictator-led PRC as having a senior role in the United Nations Security Council.
Let us remember that the signatory to the December 10, 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the Republic of China at that time, not the Communist revolutionaries behind today’s PRC. We now are faced with a situation once again, after the fall of the USSR, where the PRC is also controlled by a dictator. The permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should not be any nations run by a dictatorial regime. This undermines the very concept and mission of the United Nations.
R.E.A.L. once again urges the United Nations to act to send a clear and unequivocal message that such an attack on human rights is unacceptable, not just in PRC over Chinese people, but to the world.
R.E.A.L. calls for the United Nations to recognize this change in the PRC from a Communist nation to officially a Communist totalitarian dictatorship, an “act of aggression” in full violation of the principles of the mission of the United Nations described in the United Nations Charter. This dictatorship over 1.4 billion people is an act of aggression unlike any in modern history. R.E.A.L. calls for the United States of America to introduce a resolution in the UN Security Council to amend the Charter and remove the PRC as a veto-wielding permanent member. Let us be clear, the “Republic of China” as described in the U.N. Charter Article 23, only exists in Taiwan, and it has not existed in the PRC for nearly 70 years. The continued refusal to implement U.N. Charter Article 23 as it was written remains another historical failure of the United Nations. But this latest act of aggression by the PRC over 1.4 billion people gives the U.N. an opportunity to act and remedy this.
Should this fail in both the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, it is time for the United States and other nations of the United Nations to do the long and serious work to develop a new international organization for peace, if our United Nations cannot address an attack on human rights of this magnitude. We have see change before, with the ending of the League of Nations, and the creation of the United Nations. The League of Nations ceased its activities after failing to prevent the Second World War. Now the United Nations stands silent as a dictator takes over control of the human rights of 1.4 billion people. The PRC dictator Xi Jingping is leading a war on human rights unlike any the world has seen in modern history.
We must not accept the dictatorship over 1.4 billion people as simply a “China problem.” It is world problem for human rights of all people. If it can happen there with no consequences, it can happen anywhere.
We can not and should expect peace and human rights from dictators. It is a contempt against all of our fellow human beings to expect international leadership from literal dictators. With the official change to a dictatorship in the PRC, should there be no ability to remove the PRC from the UNSC, it is clearly time to evolve to a new international organization that is genuinely committed to peace and human rights.
We need nations that can and will work together for our shared universal human rights, as described by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Dictator run nations like the PRC, totalitarian North Korea, and others must remain on the outside of an international community of responsible nations that represent their people. The PRC has no more right to be part of the United Nations organization created in 1945, than Nazi-controlled Germany led by the dictator Adolf Hitler would have had a right to not only participate, but also to control decision-making as part of the U.N. Security Council. It is past time for the U.N. to recognize that there are consequences for the appeasement of dictators. In fact, this was the concept behind the formation of the United Nations itself in 1945.
Xi Jingping, the CPC and its Central Committee, and PRC’s CPC-led NPC must understand that there are consequences in the world community for such dictatorship over our fellow human beings.
We oppose the dictatorship of Xi Jingping – because we are…
In the current Olympic Charter, the “Fundamental Principles of Olympism” state that the Olympic values seek to create a way of life based on “social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles,” and “promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”
In 1936, Nazi Germany held the Olympic Games in Berlin. The Olympic Charter at that time in 1933 did not address such fundamental ethical principles, and human dignity, which is also an inherent part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), agreed to by the charter nations of the United Nations on December 10, 1948. The UDHR was created after the defeat of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers in the second World War, with the charter nations calling for universal human rights and human dignity in response to “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.”
At the time of Nazi Germany’s hosting of the Olympics, Hitler had already begun the concentration camp system and Anti-Jewish racial laws had been enacted. The world began to know about The Holocaust in 1942, but the danger of “normalizing” Nazi Germany was clearly understood by those who sought to protest the U.S. and other nations’ participation in the 1936 Olympics, and called for a boycott. This call for a boycott failed, and U.S. and other nations of the world made a historic mistake in legitimizing a criminal regime, by their participation. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) reports about the immediate consequences of the failure of the boycott of the 1936 Olympics: “Once the boycott movement narrowly failed, Germany had its propaganda coup: the 49 nations who sent teams to the Games legitimized the Hitler regime both in the eyes of the world and of German domestic audiences…. With the conclusion of the Games, Germany’s expansionist policies and the persecution of Jews and other ‘enemies of the state’ accelerated, culminating in World War II and the Holocaust.” We could have taken a stand with Nazi Germany in 1936 on the Olympics, and refused to “normalize” Hitler’s Germany. But the world nations decided to look the other way at an aggressive fascist, dictatorship, in its desperation for peace. We must take responsibility for that failure and learn from it.
We must Choose Courage, and refuse to make the same mistake regarding Communist totalitarian North Korea’s continuing crimes against humanity. On January 9, 2018, South Korea representatives decided to invite totalitarian North Korea to join the February 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. The decision by South Korea to invite North Korea, in view of North Korea’s continuing crimes against humanity and global aggression, to join the 2018 Olympics rejects the fundamental principles of Olympism described in the Olympic Charter, which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for upholding. On January 10, 2018, the IOC stated that IOC president Thomas Bach was host talks on January 20, 2018 in Lausanne, Switzerland, between the national Olympic committees of totalitarian North Korea and South Korea, as well as the IOC.
What must it take for the nations of the world, the United Nations, and international organizations such as the IOC, which claim to uphold values of human rights and dignity, to choose the courage to judge that the crimes against humanity by another nation’s leadership are simply unacceptable?
In 1936, we did not choose courage when faced with Nazi Germany and the Olympics.
Now again, in 2018, we are not choosing courage when faced with totalitarian North Korea and the Olympics. But unlike 1936, there is no excuse for the IOC and the world nations, regarding the shared values under the UDHR, the Olympic Charter. There is also absolutely no excuse of any kind for those who claim that they “didn’t know” of the crimes against humanity by North Korea.
We know. The world knows. But it chooses not to speak out for fear of being unpopular, of being judgmental, and of questioning those who seek “peace” at any cost to human rights and dignity, even empowering and legitimizing a totalitarian regime whose unspeakable atrocities have shocked the weary conscience of a jaded world.
We can evade, avoid, and change the subject on this failure of our global moral conscience, but the long arm of history and responsibility will come back to haunt those who fail to speak out in outrage.
In the case of totalitarian North Korea, the world cannot claim such ignorance regarding North Korea’s crimes against humanity, nor can the world pretend to ignore the global threats that the emboldened North Korea regime has made against the world. For many decades, the world and human rights organizations, including Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), have reported about the human rights atrocities and crimes against humanity by the North Korea totalitarian regime. Leading organizations like the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC) and the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) have spent many years organizing public information campaigns in the U.S., South Korea, and around the world to inform the public and to gain international resistance to the crimes against humanity by North Korea.
Since 2004, the NKFC has been reporting on “an estimated 3 million North Koreans have perished under North Korea’s brutal dictatorial regime since the mid-1990s,” the North Korea starvation tactics against its own people, and how the North Korea totalitarian leadership “arbitrarily detains, tortures, and executes its citizens, including children, in a large network of prison/labor camps.” Since 2003, the NKFC has been reporting on the “The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea’s Prison Camps” of totalitarian North Korea’s concentration camps, and numerous other reports on North Korea human rights atrocities.
Yet even if the world was not aware of decades of these and other global human rights campaigns to inform the world about the North Korea leadership’s crimes against humanity, in 2013, the United Nations undertook an active investigation of such atrocities against human rights and dignity. On March 21, 2013 the United Nations Human Rights Council established the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK – North Korea). The COI was established based on U.N. Resolution A/HRC/RES/22/13, which mandated the body to investigate the systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights in North Korea. The U.N. COI on Human Rights in North Korea presented its written report (summary and detailed) with its findings and recommendations to the Human Rights Council on February 7, 2014, which it discussed in a news conference on February 17, 2014.
In the release of the extensive United Nations COI February 7, 2014 reports on human rights violations by North Korea, the U.N. COI found the totalitarian Communist North Korea regime to be responsible for “crimes against humanity.” The U.N. COI concluded that “the commission finds that the body of testimony and other information it received establishes that crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the State.”
“These crimes against humanity entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation. The commission further finds that crimes against humanity are ongoing in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea because the policies, institutions and patterns of impunity that lie at their heart remain in place.” “Persons detained in political and other prison camps, those who try to flee the State, Christians and others considered to introduce subversive influences are the primary targets of a systematic and widespread attack against all populations that are considered to pose a threat to the political system and leadership of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This attack is embedded in the larger patterns of politically motivated human rights violations experienced by the general population, including the discriminatory system of classification of persons based on songbun.” “In addition, the commission finds that crimes against humanity have been committed against starving populations, particularly during the 1990s. These crimes arose from decisions and policies violating the right to food, which were applied for the purposes of sustaining the present political system, in full awareness that such decisions would exacerbate starvation and related deaths of much of the population.” “Lastly, the commission finds that crimes against humanity are being committed against persons from other countries who were systematically abducted or denied repatriation, in order to gain labour and other skills for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”
The U.N. COI concluded that “The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world. Political scientists of the twentieth century characterized this type of political organization as a totalitarian State: a State that does not content itself with ensuring the authoritarian rule of a small group of people, but seeks to dominate every aspect of its citizens’ lives and terrorizes them from within.” Furthermore, the U.N. COI concluded “The fact that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as a State Member of the United Nations, has for decades pursued policies involving crimes that shock the conscience of humanity raises questions about the inadequacy of the response of the international community. The international community must accept its responsibility to protect the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from crimes against humanity, because the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has manifestly failed to do so.”
During the news conference announcing the release of the report on February 17, 2014, Mr. Michael Kirby, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights said that: “These are the ongoing crimes against humanity happening in the DPRK which our generation must tackle urgently and collectively. The rest of the world has ignored the evidence for too long. Now there is no excuse because now we know.” “At the end of the Second World War, so many people said ‘If only we had known…!’ Now the international community does know…. there will be no excusing a failure of action.” The commissioners also wrote a letter to Kim Jong Un informing the North Korean ruler that they would be recommending referring his country to the International Criminal Court (ICC). This was “to render accountable all those, including possibly yourself, who may be responsible for the crimes against humanity referred to in this letter and in the commission’s report.”
As the world learned about the United Nations Commission report on North Korea’s documented “crimes against humanity,” North Korea did not participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, while it participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.
With the 2014 Winter Olympics as its background, NBC News reported on the United Nations Commission report on North Korea, with NBC News stating “so there will be no mistake, that we are living in the midst of a modern day Hitler, we are talking about Kim Jong Un, the young leader of North Korea.”
Nor was the last of such reports of the human rights atrocities by totalitarian Communist North Korea leaders and their Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un, which has shocked the world by extermination tactics, starvation tactics, murder, rape, mutilation, and terror, as well as threats of global nuclear bomb and Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) attacks against nations across the world, including the U.S., South Korea, and Japan.
The IBA reported about the totalitarian North Korea regime’s routine practice of murder, executions after being raped or for being pregnant, executions for taking food, executions for attempting to escape concentration camps, executions for in order to set example, torture, infanticide of infant babies, extermination and mass killings, persecution, forced labor, starvation, deprivation of food, clothing, and medical treatment, rape, sexual violence, forced abortion, enforced disappearance, enslavement, and more. NBC News reported on December 12, 2017 that “Thomas Buergenthal – a renowned judge on the committee and a survivor of Auschwitz – told The Washington Post that North Korea’s gulags ‘are as terrible, or even worse’ than the Nazi camps he experienced as a child.”
The December NBC News report stated “North Korean defectors told the committee about some of the individual atrocities they witnessed. These included a prisoner’s newborn baby being fed to guard dogs, the execution of starving prisoners caught digging for edible plants on the mountainside, and a variety of violent measures designed to induce abortions, including injecting motor oil into women’s wombs.” NBC wrote that the “International Bar Association’s report described itself as an ‘unofficial follow-up’ to a landmark United Nations inquiry in 2014, which said North Korea’s atrocities were ‘strikingly similar’ to the crimes committed by the Nazis.”
Excerpt from December 2017 NBC Report on North Korea’s Crimes Against Humanity
The IBA War Crimes Committee’s report states that “Former prison guard Ahn Myong-chol saw a prisoner’s baby – most likely fathered by a high-ranking official – fed to dogs and killed.”
Despite such inhuman atrocities against our fellow human beings, international affairs and “security” pundits including those that claim to speak for U.S. “intelligence,” seek to reassure the world that North Korea’s leadership is “rational,” and that we can and should have measured discussions and negotiations of matter of global and regional security…. as if we didn’t hear any of the horrific crimes against humanity routinely and frequently reported about North Korea.
Communist North Korea’s Continuing Global Threats to World Peace
So in the face of such continuing crimes against humanity and global aggression, what is the response of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and South Korea?
The “outrage exhaustion” of the world and the desperation for any avenue of peace is understandable. Every day, the world learns of new criminal acts of violence, hate, and contempt to our human rights, human dignity, and human lives. But for those who respect our shared human rights, there must be some boundary of moral integrity that we must judge actions and atrocities as unacceptable, regardless of our “disconnect” from “world events” or “politics.”
There are those who state officials in South Korea view North Korea’s potential participation in the Olympics as a “turning point” for talks on other security issues.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) sees the surrender in inviting North Korea to have participation in the Olympic games, despite its well documented crimes against humanity, as a “turning point,” as well, but not the turning point that some pundits and some South Korea officials might. R.E.A.L. sees the 2018 Olympics invitation to embolden totalitarian North Korea, despite its documented crimes against humanity and despite its nuclear and EMP threats, to be a “turning point” much like the 1936 Olympics was to embolden Nazi Germany.
Given the grave threats of weapons of mass destruction by North Korea against the world with nuclear, biological, chemical, and EMP weapons, the world understandably is looking for avenues to pursue peace. There is “no peace without justice.” The idea that we can turn a blind eye to North Korea’s crimes against humanity in the unrealistic hope that North Korea’s dictator will surrender his nuclear weapons and missile dishonors the credibility and integrity of world powers and international organizations. Turning a blind eye to North Korea’s crimes against humanity undermines the shared values of human rights and human dignity on which any genuine peace must be built.
There is always value in discussions, but we know from history what legitimizing a criminal totalitarian regime leads to. We support discussions, but not surrender on moral integrity or security. The argument that we do not know about North Korea’s atrocities, or that the crimes of other nations are somehow equivalent to the inhuman crimes against humanity by the North Korea authorities fools no one. Make no mistake, we know it is wrong.
There are those who believe such Olympic participation to legitimize the infamous, totalitarian North Korea regime, will work to help further “peace in our time.” We have heard this before, and the pathway of moral relativism does not lead to peace, because its foundation rejects the human rights and human dignity on which the peace in a cohesive society must be built.
When we surrender on human rights in desperation for peace at any cost, to those responsible for crimes against humanity, we only empower those criminals who believe we do not have the courage to work for human rights and dignity, that is necessary for any lasting peace. Human rights and dignity cannot be honored with a relativism that blindly and deliberately ignores crimes against humanity.
South Korea, the IOC, the United States of America, the world nations, and the world’s athletes know better. The world athletes in the Olympics should not be forced to disgracefully compete against those from criminal nations that throw infant children to be eaten by guard dogs. If we have lost the ability to even judge THIS as wrong, then such refined principles as sportmanship and fairness in the Olympics or any other part of life are also long abandoned as well. As human beings, we must have the ability to recognize that crimes against humanity are unacceptable to all people, in every nation, and in every area of expertise.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) calls for the South Korea and the IOC to change their stance on the participation of totalitarian North Korea in 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang. R.E.A.L. also calls for the world athletes and world nations to boycott the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, if North Korea is allowed to participate, in violation of the Olympic Charter’s fundamental principles on “social responsibility” and “human dignity.”
We know better than this. We are better than this. Let us take a stand on moral integrity when it comes to the 2018 Winter Olympics and the crimes against humanity by totalitarian North Korea. Condemn North Korea’s crimes against humanity, reject its participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics, or boycott the 2018 Winter Olympics. The world must stand by its commitment to “Never Again.”
February 5, 2013 – New York Times: a “new propaganda video, posted Sunday on a Web site and a YouTube channel that serve as outlets for North Korean state media, shows a computer-animated representation of Lower Manhattan in flames as bombs rain down.”
As the Christian community seeks to celebrate the holiday of Christmas around the world, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) urges Christian faithful in churches and in private celebrations around the world to take a moment to remember those Christians that have been killed and injured by violent extremists because of their Christian faith. Let the Christian community remember that the celebration of Christmas also comes with a responsibility to help those who are struggling, those who need material and emotional support, and those who need hope and faith. The lesson of Christmas for the Christian community provides the promise of eternal life for its believers, but let us also remember the lessons to “love on another” here on Earth.
With the constant wave after wave of violence, terror, persecution, and tragedy around the world, there are those who have become numb to the horrors our fellow human beings are suffering. The Christian community must remember that among the struggling, there is often little and limited support for Christian minorities, as well as those Christians targeted in terror attacks anywhere in the world.
A day after the attack in latest attack in Melbourne, Australia, the victims are already being forgotten and news of their attack is being ignored. The grim reality is that in too much of the world, terror attacks are becoming “normal” to too many, and attacks on houses of worship, particularly when they involve attacks on Christian minorities often fail to get the world’s attention.
So R.E.A.L. urges the Christian community to continue to stand up for the human rights of freedom of religion, guaranteed to all people under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The disinterest of the “mainstream” news media cannot be a barrier to the Christian community taking an active role in making the world aware of targeted attacks on their freedom of religion and members of their faith community. The Christian community cannot accept the weariness of apathy, not from its own community, when there are so many others, including the news media, willing to turn their back in neglect on the attacks on the suffering of Christians.
Let us not forget what we learned from history in the 20th century. Even during Adolf Hitler’s Holocaust, the so-called mainstream news media did not aggressively and actively promote the reports of such crimes against humanity. Not only must Jewish individuals say “Never Again” when it comes to the Holocaust and such genocide, so too the Christian community must also say “Never Again” in depending on the news media and others to report on such atrocities. The Christian community must be its own news media on the attacks on Christians. This is not the responsibility of just a handful of hard-working and courageous Internet blogs and Christian human rights activists.
There are approximately 37,000,000 Christian churches in the world, and an estimated 2,400,000,000 Christians in the world. That is the Christian community that owns the responsibility for Christian human rights, not 10-20 Internet blogs, or a small number of Christian human rights activists. It is unreasonable and irresponsible for the Christian community to tolerate literal terrorist attacks on Christian community churches without a global statement of rejection, and the outstretched arms of the Christian community to help those fellow Christians who are literally under attack for their faith.
We see in too much of the world, Christians under attack, as we saw a week ago in the ISIS terror attack on the Bethel Memorial Methodist church in Quetta, Pakistan, and as we have seen too often in attacks on Christian churches in Egypt, Communist China, Communist Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, India, and attacks on Christians throughout the Western world, including attacks on churches in Europe and the United States of America. The grim and dire reports of totalitarian states such as North Korea and the horrors visited upon Christians have also been part of recent reports.
The global Christian community must pray for protection. But the lessons of Christmas for the Christian community also call for acts of responsibility as well.
Christians are not taught to be weak. The call to love one another and for mercy are some of the most demanding calls for strength that exists in human existence. The core of the Christmas story is one of Responsibility and Sacrifice, that God would give a son in human form, to lead his people to grace and eternal life by seeking forgiveness for sin and faith. This is not a story of weakness. It is a story of strength. It is the most profound and dramatic story calling for RESPONSIBILITY that the world has ever heard.
Responsibility is a fundamental Christian value.
The Christian community has a responsibility: to protect their fellow worshipers, to protect those whose freedom of religion is imperiled by hate and terror, to protect those vulnerable individuals who cannot defend themselves, to call for a real effort to challenge and defy extremist ideologies -not simply terrorist tactics, and to help those who have been the victims of crimes against the Christian community.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty calls for the Christian Community, the 37,000,000 Christian churches, and the 2,400,000,000 Christians to work together to respect the Christian value of responsibility for the imperiled and attacked members of its community.
The Christmas holiday is about giving, in the joy of the gift that the world received through Jesus Christ. Amidst the Christian communities’ celebrations, the faithful must also be responsible for their suffering brothers and sisters in their communities and around the world.
If the Christian community is not helping Christian charities help the victims of those literally attacked during Christian worship services, then a basic part of its Christian (especially during Christmas) responsibility is not being met.
The BPCA has reported extensively on the December 17, 2017 attack on the Bethel Methodist Church in Quetta (committed during a pre-Christmas service on the nativity story), its members killed, and their funeral. Pakistan Christian Pastor Asif Jhon reports that one small child injured (among many injured) during the terrorist attack on the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church is still in critical condition. The pastor met with members of the family of victims, including one man who he knew that was killed.
R.E.A.L. calls for everyone in the Christian community to help those donation funds for Christian victims of such terrorism and persecution, such as the BPCA’s donation fund, which seeks to help the Quetta church and those in need, as well as the efforts by Pakistan Christian Pastor Asif Jhon, who has established a martyred Children’s Education Fund to help build the education of those children whose Christian parents were killed in terror attacks on Pakistan Christian churches.
The responsibility of mercy and compassion are the most important gifts that any member of the Christian community can provide at Christmas time. It is essential that the Christian value of such responsibility for the Christian churches and its believers, is respected by the Christian community as part of the joy and celebration of Christmas.
We urge all to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
On Sunday, December 17, 2017, the ISIS terrorist movement committed a terrorist attack on a Christian minority church in Pakistan’s Quetta. The ISIS terror attack involved the use of two suicide bombers who targeted the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church, killing 11 and injured 57. The Sunday, December 17, 2017 Christian worship service was held on the week before Christmas, several hundred worshipers were at the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church, when an ISIS terrorist suicide bomber exploded his suicide bomb vest at the church hall’s entrance. A second ISIS terrorist suicide bomber attempted, but failed to detonate his explosive vest but was unable to accomplish such terrorist violence and a gun battle broke out between the terrorist and security forces. The ISIS Amaq News Agency reported that ISIS took responsibility for the terrorist attack.
CBS News reported: “Kal Alaxander, 52, said he was at the church with his wife and two children during the attack. ‘We were in services when we heard a big bang,’ he told the Reuters news agency. ‘Then there was shooting. The prayer hall’s wooden door broke and fell on us. We hid the women and children under desks.’ Fifty-seven people were wounded in the latest attack, including seven who were listed in critical condition, according to Wasim Baig, a spokesman for Quetta’s main hospital. A young girl in a white dress sobbed as she recounted the attack to Geo television, saying many people around her were wounded.Aqil Anjum, who was shot in his right arm, told The Associated Press he heard a blast in the middle of the service, followed by heavy gunfire. “It was chaos. Bullets were hitting people inside the closed hall,” he said.”
Christian minority father Sohail Yousuf told Christianity Today that “We had sung songs, and children had presented a Christmas program. Pastor Simon Bashir had finished his sermon, and we were moving towards the altar when we started hearing gunfire outside the church. We bolted all the doors and were praying that God would protect each of us. Then a suicide bomber blew himself up at the main door. The explosion shattered the door and injured many inside. When some rushed outside, they were injured by gunfire as the terrorists were on the church lawn. But soon the situation was brought under control by the volunteer church security guards and police present there.” Christianity Today reported that “Yousef’s 13-year-old daughter Mehak lost her life; her 16-year-old sister Wasiqa is in critical condition after an operation in Quetta’s Combined Military Hospital (CMH).”
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) extends its condolences and prayers for the victims and loved ones of yet another horrific act of terrorism. Terrorism is an attack on the shared Universal Human Rights of all of our fellow human beings, and is assault on the Universal Human Rights of all people. We must all reject terrorism and the extremist ideolodgies and promoting such terror anywhere in the world.
On Human Rights Day, we remember the December 10, 1948 proclamation by the nations of the world to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The chartered nations of the United Nations acted to form this declaration on human rights and dignity in the face of world horrors, described as “disregard and contempt for human rights [that] have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” The chartered nations of the United Nations used the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to reaffirm “their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.”
The foundation of such shared universal human rights is described in Article 1 of the UDHR. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
We cannot act towards one another with respect, with a conscience, in the spirit of brotherhood or sisterhood, when our hearts are burdened and consumed by hate.
The answer to respecting the brotherhood and sisterhood of our fellow human beings – begins with compassion, dignity, mercy. While we are outraged at the indignities of extremists and tyrants, remember to always fights the battle for compassion of human rights in our own hearts first.
On November 27, 2017, the Pakistan Government surrendered to the demands of the Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY)* religious political party and its supporters that had been allowed to paralyze streets in the Pakistan national capital of Islamabad and across the country. Violent protests led to the death of at least one police officer, 60 police injured, 45 Frontier Constabulary (FC) injured, 8 protesters killed, and 300 protesters injured. Four police vehicles were attacked, and at least one set on fire, and protesters created fires in the streets to create chaoas. Armed protesters beat Pakistan police with rocks, tear gas, slingshots, and metal rods hidden inside bamboo canes. Protesters damaged buses, cut down trees to block roads, and also attacked news media vehicles and set a Samaa television broadcasting van on fire. Pakistan police attempted to arrest and detain some of the protesters, reportedly detaining 150 protesters according to Dawn News. Attempts by police to stop protesters in disrupting law and order, by using tear gas, failed to do “unfavorable winds.”
On November 25 and 26, 2017, the TLY was joined by supporters of two other religious political parties: Tehreek-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwwat, and the Sunni Tehreek Pakistan. The protests, which started for three weeks in Islambad and Faizabad Inter-Change, spread to: Quetta, Karachi, Hyderbath/Singh, Sukkur, Umerkot, Mithi, Sujawal, Lahore/Punjab, Faisalbad, Gujranwala, Multan, Nakana Sahib, Mianwali, Gujrat, Sahiwal, Vehari, Toba Tek Singh, Murree, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Haripur, Mansehra, Dera Ismail Khan, Multan, Natha Khan Chowk, Sialkot, Sheikhupura. The protest crowd in the Pakistan capital Islamabad area alone grew (according to reports) from 1,000 to over 5,000.
The protests were organized by TLY leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who used social media to help reach across Pakistan to spark religious protests.
Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) Leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi – Used Social Media to Organize Protests to Shut Down Pakistan Cities
Efforts by the Pakistan government to shut down social media outlets were stymied by use of VPN technology around Internet sites, and effort by the Pakistan government to temporarily shut down news media only led to public fear and anxiety.
Pakistan Television Channels Were Shut Down by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)
Despite efforts by the Pakistan Police, the ability to maintain law and order during the protest was lost, and the Pakistan Army was called in to protect Islamabad to “secure main offices of the judiciary, Parliament House, Presidency and Prime Minister Houses, foreign missions, foreign office and other important installations,” according to Dawn News. However, the Pakistan Army made it clear that it did not consider its mission to address the ongoing national security issue created by the extremist protests. As the Pakistan Daily Times reports, “it was clear that the Army was not willing to face the protestors.” The level of public disruption that was allowed by the failure and/or fear of government leaders to challenge such protesters seeking to disrupt law and order in Pakistan, should not only trouble the Pakistani public, but also trouble allies to thePakistannucleararmed nation.
The TLY and its partner religious political group’s protests claimed that the Electoral Reform Bill of 2017 was offensive to their political view of Islam. The Pakistan Electoral Reform Bill of 2017 was intended to integrate 8 existing laws and streamline processes, but the TLY and religious parties felt that it did not have sufficient wording about potential political candidates’ “Oath committing to Prophethood of Muhammad.” The Federal Law Minister Zahid Ahmid stated that this oath was included, as part of the Pakistan government electoral basis to require political candidates to consent to the “finality of Prophethood” of Muhammad (Khatam an-Nabiyyin). But the explanations were not satisifactory to the TLY extremists, who argued that one word in the bill was reading “declaration” instead of “oath.” TLY extremists not only sought the resignation of Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid, but also hundreds of TLY protesters in Islamabad were accusing Zahid Hamid of “blasphemy.”
TLY extremists also alleged that Pakistan government officials were being weak on enforcing the Pakistan “Blasphemy Law” (Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code), which is frequently used to persecute religious minorities, and protested with banners calling to “Hang Aasia” (sic). Christian minority woman Asia Bibi was falsely convicted of blasphemy in November 2010, sentenced to death, and who continues to seek appeal of this death sentence. TLY extremists also protested that Pakistan government officials were too weak on Ahmadi minority Muslims, who they believe should face further persecution.
Such calls by TLY protesters to call for persecution of religious minorities, and in particular, those reports that the Pakistan government has agreed to such TLY demands, should be questioned by the United Nation, and in particular, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Five years ago in 2012, the UNHCR issued a series of guidelines regarding persecution of religious minorities: “UNHCR Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Members of Religious Minorities from Pakistan, 14 May 2012, HCR/EG/PAK/12/02.” These UNHCR guidelines outline the status of Pakistan’s institutional persecution of religious minorities, including Pakistan Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Ahmadi Muslims, Shiites, Sufis, Baha’is, which are targeted for persecution in Pakistan. These guidelines also address Pakistan’s use of the Pakistan Blasphemy Law to persecute and oppress individuals and religious minorities. Refugees who have fled from Pakistan should update the UNHCR on these new developments within the Pakistan government, due to the blatant surrender of authorities to TLY religious extremist political pressure.
With the Pakistan government administration and police officials unable to develop a strategy to control the security sitution, the Pakistan government used the Pakistan Army as an intermediary to negotiate with the extremist protesters. On November 27, 2017, after negotiations between the TLY and the Pakistan government (including the Pakistan Army), TLY leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi held a press conference to call an end to the protests. According to TLY’s Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the Pakistan Government agreed to a series of 6 demands, including releasing those detained during the protests. Rizvi also stated that the Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and Major Gen Faiz Hameed would be “guarantors for the agreement” of the TLY’s demands. Among those were the immediate resignation of Pakistan Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid, who resigned in accordance with the TLY’s demands. Other TLY demands called for the Pakistan government compensating protesters for any loss of assets.
Pakistan Government’s November 27, 2017 Agreement to Demands of Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) (Urdu)
On the morning of November 27, 2017, the Pakistan Daily Times (PDT) issued an editorial calling for the Pakistan government to remain strong in the face of the TLY protester threats. The PDT wrote that surrendering to such demands would “mean that government officials can be forced into resignation by any group of armed thugs that can use force and attack ministers’ houses to push for its unconstitutional and illegal demands. It should be stated by the government in clear terms that no minister would resign on demands of such hooligans.” But on the same day, the Pakistan government did surrender to the TLY protester demands, and Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid was forced to resign.
Pakistan Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid Resignation Letter, November 27, 2017
On social media, Pakistanis posted a video of a Pakistan military figure passing out envelopes to (what appears to be) protesters. According to Dawn News, “Punjab Rangers DG Maj Gen Azhar Naveed oversaw the release of protesters and handed over cheques worth Rs1,000 to each released protester as fare for their travel home.” The Islamabad High Court criticized the Pakistan government’s role to use the Pakistan military to arbitrate with the TLY extremist protesters, with Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui asking “Who is the Army to adopt a mediator’s role?” and “Where does the law assign this role to a major general?”
Other TLY demands, which they tell Dawn News that the Pakistan government has agreed to, address aggressive enforcement of the Blasphemy law used to persecute Pakistan Christians and other religious minorities, and investigation into government officials concerned about Ahmadi minority Muslims. Other TLY demands that they claim were accepted by the Pakistan government calls for seeking the U.S. to release a Pakistan woman, Aafia Siddiqui, convicted in the U.S. for shooting Americans, who was linked with“mass casualty” terror plots.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) Leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi States Pakistan Government Agreed to Call for Terror-Linked Aafia Siddiqui’s Release
The six (6) demands of the TLY agreed to by the Pakistan government have been widely distributed in a document, signed by Pakistan Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, TLY leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi, Interior Secretary Arshad Mirza, two other protest leaders, and Major General Faiz Hameed, who facilitated the agreement. The six demands of the TLY agreed to by the Pakistan government, in a document with these signatures, are listed as:
“1. Remove Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid from his position immediately. Tehreek-i-Labaik will issue no fatwa [religious decree] of any kind against him.”
2. The report prepared by Raja Zafarul Haq-led committee will be made public within 30 days and whoever is named in the report for being responsible for the change in the election oath will be acted against under the law.
3. All protesters arrested between November 6 until the end of the sit-in from across the country will be released within one to three days according to legal requirements. The cases registered against them and the house arrests imposed on them will be ended.
4. An inquiry board will be established to probe and decide what action to take against the government and administration officials over the operation conducted by security forces against protesters on Saturday, November 25. The inquiry should be completed within 30 days and action will be taken against those found responsible.
5. The federal and provincial governments will determine and compensate for the loss of government and private assets incurred from November 6 until the end of the sit-in.
6. The points already agreed to concerning the Government of Punjab will be fully implemented.”
In addition, Dawn News reports on nine (9) additional TLY demands allegedly agreed to by the Pakistan government, including increased use of the “Blasphemy Law” to oppress individuals and persecute religious minorities (including Pakistan Christian minorities), calls for investigation into government leaders to urge further persecution of Ahmadi Muslim minorities, and calls for the release of a Pakistan woman, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, convicted of shooting Americans, who has been linked to terrorist plans to attack the United States.
These additional TLY demands, which TLY leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi states the Pakistan government has agreed to include the following, as reported both by Dawn News and the Pakistan Daily Times:
“1. A board of clerics led by Pir Muhammad Afzal Qadri will be set up to probe remarks made by Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah against the persecution of Ahmedis. Sanaullah will have to accept the decision made by the board.
2. No difficulty will be faced in registering cases under clause 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (blasphemy law)
3. No leniency will be given to those convicted by courts for blasphemy
4. No ban will be imposed on the use of loudspeakers
5. The foreign and interior ministries will take steps for the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui after taking her mother and sister in confidence
6. The holiday of Iqbal Day on November 9 will be revived
7. Two representatives of Tehreek-i-Labaik will be included in the panel assigned to decide changes in the textbook board. The officials will push for inclusion of translation of the Holy Quran and chapters about Seerat-un-Nabi (PBUH) and Muslim leaders.
8. The chehlum of martyrs will be held on January 4 at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh
9. Every year, November 25 will be observed as ‘Martyrs of Prophet’s honour day’ ”
The increased calls for persecution of individuals under the Pakistan “Blasphemy Law,” should be concerning to those advocating for Human Rights and religious freedom of all people. It should be deeply concerning to Human Rights advocates that the TLY has obtained such support after its public calls for executing individuals and its reports to the Pakistan Daily Times and Pakistan Dawn, that the TLY has received agreement by the Pakistan government that blasphemy laws will be more aggressively pursued against vulnerable individuals.
Pakistan Protesters Calling for Execution of Christian Minority Woman Asia Bibi
The Blasphemy Law is regularly used to persecute religious minorities and other victimized by claims that they did or said something “blasphemous” against Islam. This law calls for the death penalty for individuals convicted on such laws, usually based on trumped-up or fabricated evidence. Some suffer for years in prison on such charges, seeking appeals, and even those who are released when found innocent face mob violence, including previous reports of those shot on courthouse steps. Media reports showed the current protesters with banners calling for the hanging of Christian minority woman Asia Bibi, who was convicted of blasphemy in November 2010, sentenced to death, and who continues to seek appeal of this death sentence. Christian minority woman Asia Bibi’s primary “offense” was sharing a water cup while working with extremist Muslim co-workers, who felt that her unclean touch of the water cup was offensive. This led to a dispute and fabricated charges against her in June 2009. She was imprisoned for over a year before being formally charged. TLY protesters have been openly protesting in support of Asia Bibi’s death.
The American public should also be concerned about the calls by TLY leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi, which he claims to Dawn News, are supported by the Pakistan government, seeking the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted by U.S. courts after shooting Americans and attempting to murder them. Al-Qaeda-linked Aafia Siddiqui was one of several high-profile terror suspects sought by the FBI in the United States, where she had been operating, prior to her capture in Afghanistan. Afia Siddiqui was a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and obtained a Ph.D. doctoral degree from Brandeis University, where she taught a Biology Laboratory course. Media reports stated that Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the alleged al-Qaeda chief planner of the 11 September attacks, named Afia Siddiqui as an Al-Qaeda operative. Khalid Sheikh Muhammad was related to Afia Siddiqui, as her second husband’s uncle. According to the U.S. Government, Aafia Siddiqui had a role in assisting terrorists to “rent houses and provide administrative support for the operation,” including organizing travel documentation for Pakistani national Majid Khan in Baltimore, Maryland, whose role was to bomb gasoline stations and poison water reservoirs in America. In U.S. courts, Aafia Siddiqui was convicted of attempted murder of U.S. nationals, officers, and employees, assault with a deadly weapon, carrying and using a firearm, and three counts of assault on U.S. officers and employees. According to the complaint against Pakistan woman Aafia Siddiqui, she was arrested with notes on plans for terrorist attacks on “various locations in the United States, including Plum Island, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and the Brooklyn Bridge,” as well as plans on “construction of ‘dirty bombs,’ chemical and biological weapons, and other explosives.” She was also arrested with two pounds (900 grams) of sodium cyanide in a glass jar.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has previously reported on UK-based groups that have praised terrorists, including the 9/11 Al-Qaeda terror attack on the U.S., which have campaigned for the freedom of convicted terrorists. According to the London Times, this included a “women’s network [that] is using macabre images on social media to raise funds for convicted terrorists and their families,” including Pakistan Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.
Pakistan media figures have considered the Pakistan government’s inability to manage law and order in the face of the TLY religious political protests across the nation. During the protests, Dawn’s Zahid Hussain wrote: “The use of religion as a policy tool by the state and its confluence with politics has divided the nation along sectarian lines and fueled bigotry. The ongoing siege of the capital presents a serious challenge to not only the government but also the state” and “The authorities have not learnt from the consequences of the policy of appeasement.”
Pakistan Express Tribune’s Kamran Yousaf warns of religious extremism in Pakistan as a form of “Frankenstein’s monster,” writing “Our state and its inaction allowed ordinary individuals and groups to become monsters.” Mr. Yousaf states that despite security improvements in the military,”the battle against extremism has unfortunately not even been kicked off. We have not only failed to stem the tide of extremism but in reality whatever little gains we may have achieved are now being reversed.” “The tragic part is that we haven’t learnt any lesson from the past and as a consequence has allowed yet another individual to become larger than life character. Who is Khadim Hussain Rizvi and how has he risen to prominence within no time? Not long ago, he was just an ordinary cleric teaching at one of the seminaries in Lahore.” “The problem is that the path he has chosen to venture into politics is dangerous. He is openly inciting people to violence and ridiculing judiciary and other institutions. ” “This leaves us with a legitimate concern: are we paving the way for yet another monster?”
Pakistan Daily Times (PDT) writer Obed Pasha wrote on November 27 that TLY protesters led by Khadim Hussain Rizvi were not defied due to “widespread tacit support they have from a substantial portion of the society” in Pakistan, who “sympathize with Khadim Hussain’s cause.” PDT writer Pasha stated that the “fact of the matter is that the masses have chosen religious bigotry to unite for collective action,” and that a series of successful political religious extremists have “not only weakened the state machinery, but also legitimized the use of religion to achieve political goals in the society.”
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) suggests to the Pakistan government, the frustrated among the Pakistan public, and those who believe in equality, liberty, and democratic processes another direction: Choose Universal Human Rights.
The path of religious extremism is only one path that Pakistan could choose. Other alternatives could be to reconsider the position of Pakistan in making its rights and legal systems dependent on pluralistic values that show true respect and confidence in freedom of religion and faith, rather than an insecurity that demands religious extremist control all political and legal futures in Pakistan. A faith and culture that is strong should also be strong enough to respect others and understand others without the fear-based extremism that demand total and unquestioning obediance to extremist views, and which will use violence and disruption if its adherants do not get their way. Surely such appeasement of extremism undermines the foundational capabilities for democracy and democratic principles.
Pakistan is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (signatory as part of December 10, 1948 United Nations process), as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (signed 2008, ratified 2010). The ICCPR is the legal treaty to the UDHR. Within the UDHR, Article 18 states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” This is part of the ICCPR as well, as part of its own Article 18, which states “1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching. 2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice. 3. Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. 4. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.”
When ratifying the ICCPR, Pakistan stated that “The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan reserves its right to attach appropriate reservations, make declarations and state its understanding in respect of various provisions of the Covenant at the time of ratification.” Pakistan’s reservations to such universal human rights under the UDHR and ICCPR have included the following reservation (June 27, 2011) regarding Article 18: “shall be so applied to the extent that they are not repugnant to the Provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan and the Sharia laws.”
Pakistan is also a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) which created its own version of a human rights declaration, titled the “Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI)” adopted on August 5, 1990. Unlike the other universal human rights documents, the OIC’s version of “human rights” denies religious freedom, making human rights dependent on the interpretation of Islamic Sharia law by individual OIC’s states’ members. As stated in CDHRI Article 24, “All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari’ah.” As stated in CDHRI Article 25, “The Islamic Shari’ah is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles of this Declaration.” But even within Shari’ah there are interpretations by scholars. Why cannot confidence, rather than fear be an interpretation? Why cannot respect for others, rather than “compulsion” in religion not be an interpretation?
If Pakistan’s majority faith and religious culture is secure, then it should not need such artificial demonstrations of piety and rejection of pluralism to defend it. It is time for Pakistan to recognize the foundational problems that it faces in its version of democracy and human rights, and understand that democratic values and human rights must be universal, to be responsible for the future of the diverse people and needs in Pakistan, and to be responsible in Pakistan’s future with the world.
Courage and confidence in equality, not surrender and fear of extremists, offers a real pathway for peace and prosperity for Pakistan’s future. No nation can build a proud nation for its children, if on any day, a handful of extremists can readily drag it to its knees. We urge the people and government of Pakistan to stand up and reject the attacks on democracy and representative government by such extremists.
We urge Pakistan and its people to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
(* NOTE: The TLY is also referred to in English media as Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah, Tehreek-e-Labaik Ya Rasool Ullah, “TLYP,” “TLYR”.)
In Pakistan, extremist religious supporters of three religious political parties: Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwwat, and the Sunni Tehreek Pakistan, have been engaged in protests and violence starting in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad and spreading to other parts of the country. One of the groups, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (aka “TLY,” Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah, Tehreek-e-Labaik Ya Rasool Ullah, “TLYP,” “TLYR”), has been led by firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who continues to led protest activities and rally individuals armed with sticks and rods in the Islamabad capital. TLY group chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi has used social media to call for the protests and actions by supporters across Pakistan. The protests in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, and have blocked the blocking Faizabad Inter-Change for approximately three weeks. TLY protests have spread to other parts of the nation, and violence between protesters and the Pakistan police has increased, including protesters attacking police with iron and wooden rods, stones, setting police vehicles on fire, and starting fires in the streets. The protests and violence have spread to other parts of the country, and reports are being issued from Pakistan media of plans to restrict media reporting on the disruption.
The violent protests have attacked reported changes in electoral reform law, but also called for threats against religious minorities, including execution of Christian minority woman Asia Bibi for “blasphemy,” and anti-Ahamdi Muslim minority placards. Fires, attacks on police vehicles, injuries, and death have been reported as a result of the increasingly violent protests, which have led to the death of at least one police officer killed, over 60 police injured, 45 Frontier Constabulary (FC) injured, 8-10 protesters killed, and 300 protesters injured.
The recent protests and violence which began in Pakistan’s national capital of Islamabad, have continued to spread. The current protests and disruption has led to over 5,000 protesters seeking to disrupt Islambad and other parts of Pakistan, including: Faizabad, Karachi, Hyderabad/Sindh, Lahore/Punjab, Peshawar, Quetta. Multiple reports are also stating that a call has been made by the Pakistan Federal Government to authorize the use of the Pakistan Army “to control law and order situation in Islamabad Capital Territory.” Reports stated that Pakistan military authorities were used to help contain protest violence. According to Dawn, “The federal government on Saturday evening ordered the deployment of the army in Islamabad under Article 245 of the Constitution to aid civilian law-enforcement agencies in securing the capital, following the ‘suspension’ of the day-long crackdown against religious protesters camped out at Faizabad Interchange.”
According to the New York Times, Dawn, and other reports, electronic media and television media have been restricted from reporting on the violent protests. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) blocked live television coverage of protests. The New York Times reports: “At one point, the electronic media regulating authority took all television news networks off the air in most parts of the country, and Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were also inaccessible, amid concerns that live coverage of the police action was inflaming religious sentiments.”
The TLY extremist and protester groups are telling their leaders to “use VPN” as ways to work around the PERMA blocks on social media.
Pakistan Television Channels Shut Down by akistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)
Numerous reports of violence and disruption were reported across the Pakistan.
In Islamabad, protesters continued to occupy the Faizabad Bridge which connects Rawalpindi and Islamabad through the Islamabad Expressway and Murree Road, with a reported growth in the number of protesters from 1,000 to 5,000. Additional protesters joined the Islamabad protest mob using Murree Road, Rawal Dam and Express Highway. Reports continue to state that TLY leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi is leading protesters armed with rods and sticks. Protesters have used rocks and rods on the police, as well as tear gas shells. Some are concealing their identity with masks. Police vehicles and police vans have been attacked and set on fire. Protesters have cut down trees to block highways, and have burned tires in the streets, as well as attacked police, attacked FC personnel, and set police vehicles on fire. The latest reports state that Islamabad’s Red Zone and Diplomatic Enclave were sealed off with containers to prevent protesters from entering the area.
In Quetta, protestors sought to disrupt and cause traffic jams in Hockey Chowk, and protesters sought to demonstrate against the security and law enforcement agencies seeking to restore order.
In Karachi, at least 23 were injured included 2 policemen, some with gunshot wounds. Pakistan Dawn quoted police officer Malir SSP Rao Anwar Ahmed stating: “One of the men among the protesters was armed with SMG rifle, who resorted to firing on the policemen, resultantly Memon Goth SHO Gulzar Tunio and constable Sabir sustained bullet wounds.” Throughout Karachi, there were reports of protesters creating fires and burning tires. Protests in Numaish Chowrangi created disruptions of traffic in the area for hours. Major affected areas were reported to include Teen Talwar, Boat Basin, Nipa, Sohrab Goth, Shahrah-i-Faisal near Stargate and Nursery, Hub River Road and Hassan Square.
In Hyderbath/Singh area, traffic was blocked by protesters including in the Haider Chowk area, as well as the National Highway near Khairpur. Protests occurred outside the Badin Press Club and in Sukkur, Umerkot, Mithi, and Sujawal.
In Lahore/Punjab, significant protests in Shahdara, Imamia Colony, and other areas led to closing roads and blocking roads from Lahore to Gujranwala, including Faisalbad. Protests occurred in nine other cities throughout Punjab province ( Gujranwala, Multan, Nakana Sahib, Mianwali, Gujrat, Sahiwal, Vehari, Toba Tek Singh and Murree) and motorists were stranded due to traffic congestion on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway. Pakistan Today reported that the police prescence was difficult to discern, in their report: “Lahore police go missing as religious activists lay siege to Faisal Chowk.”
In Peshawar, protesters blocked King’s Road and created major traffic blockages in the area. They burned tires at a major protest rally causing smoke and fire. Other protests developed in four other areas throughout Peshawar, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Haripur, Mansehra and Dera Ismail Khan.
In Multan, four protest rallies were led by Sunni Jamaat activists.
In Natha Khan Chowk, protesters set a vehicle on fire.
In Sialkot, protesters attacked the home of Law Minister Zahid Hamid with rocks.
In Sheikhupura, PML-N lawmaker Javed Latif was attacked and injured by protesters, when he attempted to negotiate with them. Protesters also attacked the home of PML-N’s former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar.
Social media reports have provided additional information that a number of the protesters are actually armed with weapons that are concealed. One example shown is how metal rods are hidden inside “bamboo poles” and then used as weapons when not seen by photographers.
Social Media Showing Metal Rods Hidden Inside Protesters’ “Bamboo Poles”
A primary reason given by TLY group chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi and supporting protesters for such public disruption has been to call for the resignation of Pakistan Law Minister Zahid Hamid, after claims that a Electoral Reform Bill did not include a clause regarding belief in the finality of Prophethood of Muhammad (Khatam an-Nabiyyin) as part of the revised electoral reform act, regarding “Oath committing to Prophethood of Muhammad.” However, reports have show the both the proposed and previous verisions of the amended Electoral Reform Bill included this “oath” to consent to the “finality of Prophethood” of Muhammad. Law Minister Zahid Hamid denied the TLY allegations about the removal of this part of the proposed law, stating, “God forbid, we can’t even think of doing such a thing.” The intent of the Electoral Reform Bill was to combine eight different laws pertaining to elections to avoid legal confusion. One of the “controversial” aspects of the Electoral Reform Bill was a clause to prevent politicians that are disqualified from holding public office to lead political parties.
In addition, protesters have been protesting against religious minorities with particular targets on Pakistan Christian Asia Bibi and against Ahmadi Muslims. Protesters carried banners calling for the execution of Pakistan Christian minority woman Asia Bibi for “blasphemy.”
Pakistan Protesters Calling for Execution of Christian Minority Woman Asia Bibi
In Lahore, Pakistan Today reported that “Hundreds of protesters, including members of the Lahore Bar Association (LBA), carrying anti-Ahmedi placards and batons thronged the Faisal Chowk to register their protest against the operation in Islamabad.” “Protesters were also of the view that Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid should resign as the former is ‘friends with Ahemdis’ while the latter ‘is an Ahmedi’.”
Those protesting in defense of the religious “Blasphemy Law,” Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code, in Pakistan, which is regularly used to persecute religious minorities and other victimized by claims that they did or said something “blasphemous” against Islam. This law calls for the death penalty for individuals convicted on such laws, usually based on trumped-up or fabricated evidence. Some suffer for years in prison on such charges, seeking appeals, and even those who are released when found innocent face mob violence, including previous reports of those shot on courthouse steps. Media reports showed the current protesters with banners calling for the hanging of Christian minority woman Asia Bibi, who was convicted of blasphemy in November 2010, sentenced to death, and who continues to seek appeal of this death sentence. Christian minority woman Asia Bibi’s primary “offense” was sharing a water cup while working with extremist Muslim co-workers, who felt that her unclean touch of the water cup was offensive. This led to a dispute and fabricated charges against her in June 2009. She was imprisoned for over a year before being formally charged.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), an advocate for universal human rights, urges the Pakistan government to reject policies of appeasement in dealing with extremist protesters throughout Pakistan, but also to re-examine Pakistan’s position on human rights in addressing the roots of such extremism. R.E.A.L. notes the commentary by Zahid Hussain who states: “The use of religion as a policy tool by the state and its confluence with politics has divided the nation along sectarian lines and fueled bigotry. The ongoing siege of the capital presents a serious challenge to not only the government but also the state” and “The authorities have not learnt from the consequences of the policy of appeasement.” While R.E.A.L. agrees with Mr. Hussain on this, the foundational issue comes back to the false idea that Pakistan can have a separate set of universal human rights, a different vision of democracy, and a view of religious tolerance that fundamentally rejects religious diversity and pluralism. The root of this problem will not go away for Pakistan.
Pakistan is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (signatory as part of December 10, 1948 United Nations process), as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (signed 2008, ratified 2010). The ICCPR is the legal treaty to the UDHR. Within the UDHR, Article 18 states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” This is part of the ICCPR as well, as part of its own Article 18, which states “1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching. 2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice. 3. Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. 4. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.”
When ratifying the ICCPR, Pakistan stated that “The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan reserves its right to attach appropriate reservations, make declarations and state its understanding in respect of various provisions of the Covenant at the time of ratification.” Pakistan’s reservations to such universal human rights under the UDHR and ICCPR have included the following reservation (June 27, 2011) regarding Article 18: “shall be so applied to the extent that they are not repugnant to the Provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan and the Sharia laws.”
Pakistan is also a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) which created its own version of a human rights declaration, titled the “Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI)” adopted on August 5, 1990. Unlike the other universal human rights documents, the OIC’s version of “human rights” denies religious freedom, making human rights dependent on the interpretation of Islamic Sharia law by individual OIC’s states’ members. As stated in CDHRI Article 24, “All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari’ah.” As stated in CDHRI Article 25, “The Islamic Shari’ah is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles of this Declaration.”
This creates a fundamental division and conflict between OIC nations respecting the CDHRI, and other nations of the world respecting the UDHR/ICCPR. It creates a continuing flashpoint in dealing with broad human rights issues on an international basis, where the very definition of “universal human rights” has a different interpretation in Pakistan and other OIC nations. The concept of those seeking to run for political office in other nations around the world, having to make a commitment or an oath to a specific religious viewpoint, would appear fundamentally un-democratic and an institutional attack of democratic processes. But throughout Pakistan today, TLY protesters are violently protesting and burning police vehicles based on a rumor that such non-religious democratic electoral reform could even have been considered. Furthermore, some TLY protesters are also using this unrest to further defend the abuses by the Pakistan “Blasphemy Law,” which is regularly used to persecute religious minorities and others.
We urge that the Pakistan police will get this unrest and violence under control, but this is yet another example of the dangerous lack of stability that Pakistan must resolve in basic agreement on human rights and democratic processes along with the rest of the world. Long term solutions are not just police action, not simply Army action, and not further efforts to appease violent extremists. The only long term solution for Pakistan to meaningfully address such violence is to build a pluralistic respect for universal human rights for all people of all faiths, without dependence on religious sanctions to operate basic national law and regulations on a daily basis. As with all nations, the values, ethics, and mores (including religious mores) of its people are powerful influences on law and legislation. But for adherents to the majority religion, the demonstration of real piety and religious conscience would be provide laws that allow for respect to all Pakistan citizens of all faiths and views, without the insecure need for “compulsion” in religion.
As a nuclear weapon-armed modern nation (with an estimated 120 nuclear bomb warheads), Pakistan and the Pakistan people must consider both its national and its global responsibilities. Like the rest of the world, the Pakistan people have suffered from violence and terrorism. It remains essential for Pakistan and the world to continue to challenge terrorism. But terror tactics draw their inspiration from extremist views and values, and too many extremists continue to wield influence in Pakistan today, as we can clearly see in the streets of Pakistan, as the Pakistan police themselves lie injured and killed in the streets today.
Pakistan must come to realize that modern technology, modern weapons, and engagement with the rest of the world is a two-way street. Pakistan cannot simply take what it wants from our global modern age, and live as if the rest of the modern world does not exist, including our shared universal human rights. Growing technological and business interdependence with simultaneous denial on global standards of human rights is a strategy for Pakistan’s national disruption, security challenges, and both internal and external strife. Like all nations, Pakistan has the right to defend its culture, its majority religion, and its values. But the dependence on a completely separate set of “universal human rights” that reject the religious freedom and diversity of others will continue to be a weakness in the Pakistan national identity. Pakistan’s position in dealing with the TLY and the violent protesters is to tactically stop street violence, but to ignore the foundational problems that lead to such issues.
Pakistan must reassess its reservations to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and reconsider its dependence on a Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI), which demands a religious-based “universal human rights” code. If Pakistan’s majority faith and religious culture is secure, then it should not need such artificial demonstrations of piety and rejection of pluralism to defend it.
The time must come, to stop the violence in Pakistan, and take a real stand against extremism movements in Pakistan, by fully and completely supporting all of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including Article 18. Pakistan could be begin this process by fully ratifying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, rather than merely being a signatory to it. R.E.A.L. urges the government of Pakistan to reconsider its dependence on the CDHRI, and to fully ratify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to remove its “reservations” to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. With the Human Rights Day approaching on December 10, this could be a move for Pakistan to begin to bring its stance on universal human rights in line with the rest of the world.
