Report backs claim of Pakistan’s most prominent activistPakistan’s most prominent human rights campaigner Asma Jahangir has called for a probe into an alleged plot by the country’s intelligence agency to assassinate her during a visit to neighboring India.
Jahangir has demanded the government take immediate notice of a newspaper report this week which said the alleged plot did exist and to find out who was behind it.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post published a report based on communication intercepts from 2010 to 2012 and other intelligence from classified documents which claim that officials in Pakistan’s security apparatus had plotted to eliminate Jahangir.
The information was disclosed by intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.
According to the Post, US agencies discovered in May 2012 that Pakistani officers were hatching a plan that involved recruiting militants to kill her while she was on a visit to India.
The plan was aborted after the former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Supreme Court Bar Association, learned of it and went public.
“Well wishers had already told me about the murder plot,” she said on Thursday.
When she went public in June last year, Jahangir accused the military, particularly the Inter Services Intelligence spy agency, of being angry with her for speaking out against the role of the security establishment in restive Balochistan province.
Militant nationalist groups in the province have been waging a campaign in recent years for autonomy.
She said she would continue striving for democracy and protection of human rights in the country and her voice could not be silenced.
“Duffers should know that assassinations cannot kill all sane voices in Pakistan,” she tweeted on Thursday.
Originally published at UCAnews on 6 September 2013. Used with permission. All other rights reserved.
