Exposing truth with paying a price; Pakistani women activist Gulalai Ismail claims of her father being detained

Washington, October 25: Evidently showcasing and speaking openly about the atrocities and harassment on the people, women activist Gulalai Ismail has exposed the Pakistani military and ignorance of Pakistan governance in supporting them. In a latest report coming forth, Gulalai Ismail has highlighted reports of atrocities on her family and detention of her father. Washington said it was "concerned" late on Thursday by reports that the father of a Pakistani activist who fled the country has himself been detained, the latest incident to fuel fears of a clampdown on dissent.

 

Alice Wells, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, tweeted her concern over "reports of the continued harassment of Gulalai Ismail's family, and her father's detention today". She said the US called on Pakistan to "uphold citizens' rights to peaceful assembly, expression, and due process".

 

Alice Wells tweeted after Ismail said her father Mohammad Ismail had been taken away by unknown men earlier Thursday outside a court in Peshawar, a western city near the border with Afghanistan. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has called for his release. Pakistani officials did not give any immediate comment. Gulalai Ismail is an international award-winning activist who has championed the rights of Pakistani girls in a deeply patriarchal country.

Ismail also began speaking out against sexual violence and disappearances allegedly carried out by the army in north-western Pakistan, a red line for the powerful security establishment which has run the country for much of its history. Fearing for her life, she went on the run for four months before turning up in the US in September. She told media during an interview in Washington last month that she fears for her parents, saying they have become socially isolated, with security forces interrogating anyone who so much as texts them.

Rights watchdogs have long warned of a shrinking space for dissent in Pakistan, one of the most dangerous places in the world for activists and journalists. They can face abductions, torture, even killings if they cross red lines that a journalism watchdog last year said had been "quietly, but effectively" set by the army.