New Delhi: The members of a Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group (EPG) have called for immediate Commonwealth action after renowned Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jehangir recently claimed that her country`s security establishment was planning to get her killed.
Members of the group made their call for action through a letter to Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma and Dr Surujrattan Rambachan, chairman of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), a representative body that looks into violations of the grouping`s political values.
The group called on the secretary-general "to request the Government of Pakistan to provide full protection for Jahangir, and to launch an immediate and transparent inquiry into the threats directed at her".
"We are sufficiently alarmed to suggest that you should appoint a `good offices` representative to be engaged in this matter with the authorities in Pakistan to furnish both you and the CMAG with information," the group said through the letter.
EPG members copying the letter to the chairman of CMAG sought appropriate steps "to advise the Government of Pakistan of the deep disquiet that this matter has engendered".
The letter said that the EPG members "are extremely troubled by the charges that Jahangir has reliable information that her life is under threat from Pakistan`s security establishment".
The letter also stated: "Given our knowledge of her and of her highly regarded work, we are confident that her charges would have been made only after the most careful consideration and in light of credible intelligence."
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 countries that support each other and work together towards shared goals in democracy and development.
IANS
