A UN special rapporteur has expressed serious concerns over extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and attacks on minorities in Pakistan.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, in a letter, has raised his concerns on an alleged kill list in the country, which includes senators and human rights defenders.
The letter was sent by the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders and the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues.
According to the letter, the list of persons to be killed includes Usman Kakar, Farhatullah Babar, Fazal ur Rehman Afridi and Gul Bukhari.
The UN Special Rapporteur raised question on the unclear circumstances of the death of senator Usman Kakar, who was murdered under a conspiracy.
Usman Kakar, who was a Senator and a regional leader of the nationalist PKMAP, was found in his house in Quetta on June 2021 with head injury. He was taken to a hospital for treatment where he succumbed to the injuries.
The UN rapporteurs have given the Pakistan government 60 days to provide information about the alleged existence of the kill list.
The kill list was allegedly published on a Facebook post by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which had included Usman Kakar’s name along with Gul Bukhari and Fazal ur Rehman Afridi.
The rapporteurs have also urged that measures must be taken to prevent any harm to Fazal-ur Rehman Afridi and Gul Bukhari, as well as former Senator Farhatullah Babar.
He also stated that a similar concern was also raised in May 2019 where it requested Pakistan Government for investigating about a similar list. However, Pakistan government denied the existence through a reply in June 2019.
On 12 August 2022, the National Standing committee on Human Rights once again expressed its concern over the alleged Kill List. It was maintained that the list was issued by TTP on social media containing 10 names of Lawmakers and Human rights defenders.
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