Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Pakistan - TOLERATING SOME MILITANT ORGANIZATIONS AND USING HATE SPEECH TO SILENCE DISSENT QUESTIONED IN THE SENATE




Until the state abandons its policy of favouring some militant groups that seek to target countries in the region and until it curbs hate speech the fight against militancy will remain elusive.


This was stated by Senator Farhatullah Babar while taking part in discussion on the National Action Plan (NAP) on a motion moved by PPP Senator Sehar Kamran in the Senate today.
Questioning the policy of blocking UN move to impose sanctions against the head of a banned militant outfit he said that such diabolical policies raised serious questions about our intentions and policies.
He said that activists challenging state narrative on militancy and national security are silenced through a vicious hate campaign on social and electronic media. Today hate speech flourishes while
dissent with state narrative is not only silenced but also punished covertly without recourse to law, he said adding ‘this is a new and most disturbing trend’.
The government must come out clean on the priorities it has in the fight against militancy. Are we going to fight only those militants who are targeting our citizens or are we also going to fight also those whose target is across the borders, he asked?

No comments: