United Nations: An apex body of the United Nations has raised concerns over threats to journalists and human rights activists, especially women, in Pakistan. Along with this, the body called upon the leadership of Pakistan to condemn the incitement of violence against religious minorities and to encourage people to respect different ideologies. United Nations spokesman for human rights Rupert Kovil said in Geneva on Tuesday that the United Nations human rights body is concerned with many cases of inciting violence against journalists and human rights activists in Pakistan, especially women and minorities.
He said that the body is monitoring such cases both online and offline. He said in a statement that the blasphemy allegations are particularly worrying as it increases the risk of violence against the accused. The United Nations human rights body called on the Pakistani leadership to condemn the incitement of violence against religious minorities and said that it appears that there has been an increase in the use of blasphemy law for personal or political revenge.
The statement said that last year at least four journalists and bloggers were murdered for their reporting. One of them was Aruj Iqbal who was shot and killed in Lahore as he talked about starting his newspaper.
