Rights group urges Pakistani authorities to release PoK journalist Ahmad Farhad

Islamabad, Aug 30 (IANS) Leading international human rights organisation Amnesty International has urged Pakistani authorities to immediately release Kashmir poet and journalist Ahmad Farhad and refrain from coercive actions that curtail his right to freedom of expression.

In a statement, Amnesty International said that Farhad has been kept under administrative detention in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s (PoK) Bagh since June 20. Farhad’s arbitrary detention under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance comes as part of a massive crackdown on the right to peaceful assembly in PoK, according to Amnesty, which also claimed that Pakistani authorities have been placing pressure on Ahmed Farhad to record statements denouncing protests taking place in PoK.

“He is currently on a hunger strike to protest his unlawful detention. Amnesty calls on the Pakistani authorities to immediately release Ahmed and refrain from coercive tactics which curtail his right to freedom of expression,” Amnesty said.

Last month, international human rights organisation Ireland-based rights group Front Line Defenders urged the Pakistani authorities to immediately release Farhad and withdraw all charges against him, alleging that he is being targeted for his legitimate reporting and human rights work in PoK.

Front Line Defenders strongly condemned the repression in PoK, saying the crackdown is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of violence against individuals who speak out against authorities and seek to end impunity for human rights violations.

The organisation said that journalists such as Farhad are especially vulnerable as they challenge state-sponsored misinformation and report independently from the ground.

According to Front Line Defenders, the Pakistani police detained Farhad on June 20 in Bagh city of PoK while he was returning home after covering the ongoing Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) protest in Rawalakot. It added that he has since been held at the Bagh city police station with no legal grounds or a formal arrest warrant.

The rights body further said that Farhad reports on social justice issues, human rights violations, and the suppression of peaceful people’s movements for rights and justice in PoK.

“He has faced violent reprisals as a result of his work, including an abduction which later turned into an arrest in 2024, as well as criminalisation and stigmatisation by state authorities,” it said.

It said that Farhad used his media platform to report on the protest movement launched by the JAAC in PoK, which has “faced a disproportionate use of force and repression” by Pakistani authorities.

“Thousands of protesters were reportedly arrested under the regressive Section 3, Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, which permits preventive detention with limited recourse to judicial review,” the rights body noted.

–IANS

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