Pak govt withdraws Burney's security Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, Nov 7 (PTI) Pakistan government has withdrawn
the police security provided to leading human rights activist
Ansar Burney, who said the move appeared to be linked to his
recent visit to India and exposed him to "extreme danger".

Burney, who has received many threats for his work
including his campaign to save Indian death row prisoner
Sarabjit Singh, has had police security for the past 15 years.

Five guards posted at Burney's home in the port city of
Karachi and two armed bodyguards assigned to him were
withdrawn on October 25, on the eve of his visit to India to
accept the 'Mother Teresa Memorial International Award' for
his work for human rights and social justice.

Burney said no reason had been given so far by
authorities for the move. "All the security provided to me has
been removed due to my pro-human rights policies, struggle for
the release of innocent Indian and Pakistani prisoners and my
recent trip to India," he told PTI.

"It looks like I am being made to pay a big price for
taking up the cause of Indian and other innocent prisoners in
Pakistan," he said, adding that he believed the move was also
linked to his campaign to get Sarabjit's death sentence
converted to life imprisonment.

Burney, the former Human Rights Minister, claimed he had
received fresh threats from Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamat-ud-Dawa,
the group formed by Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Mohammad
Saeed, 'jehadi' organisations and radical Islamist groups for
taking up Sarabjit's case and securing the release of another
Indian death row prisoner, Kashmir Singh.

He said the government "has exposed me and my family to
extreme danger by withdrawing my guards. But I will continue
with my mission of safeguarding human rights and human dignity
without any fear or discrimination."

"I am fighting for humans and human dignity and the
present government has thrown me in front of wolves. But these
actions will not make me weaker," said Burney, the Chairman of
the Ansar Burney Trust.

He also criticised the Interior Ministry chief Rehman
Malik for what he described as "hypocrisy and double speak".

"The extreme of hypocrisy is that the government
announced it would convert all death sentences into life
imprisonment. Even after that announcement, four prisoners
have been hanged so far. It looks like this announcement was
made just to get international appreciation," he said.

"On one side, the Pakistan government issues statements
on sympathetically considering Sarabjit's case and on the
other hand, they are spreading canards to bring embarrassment
to a person like me who is working on his case and trying to
bring India and Pakistan closer," he added.

Burney also claimed there were a "few living Indian
Prisoners of War in Pakistani jails" and the government was
reluctant to hand over to India the ashes of "PoWs who had
died in jails". He said he would visit India again in December
to take up such issues. PTI RHL
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