WASHINGTON: U.S Deputy assistant secretary of state Teresita Schaffer warned Wednesday that the viability of Pakistan’s democracy was in danger unless it could deal with the communal situation in Sindh.
Testifying at a joint hearing of the house subcommittees of human rights and Asian and Pacific affairs, a spokesman of the Bush administration, deputy assistant
Secretary Joshua Gilder, of the bureau of human rights and humanitarian affairs, drew attention to the continued plight of the Ahmadi community in Pakistan.
Schaffer said that not only India but “Pakistan, too, has been troubled by communal conflict and the local breakdown of law and order.”
“Violence in Sindh province”, Schaffer said, “has cost hundreds of lives, forced hundreds of families to abandon their homes, and led to the recurrent use of military force to quell disorder. We believe that the viability of Pakistan’s new democratic order depends in large part on the extent to which it is able to guarantee the security and basic rights of its citizens.”
Gilder, in his testimony, said: “another problem which has received regular United States attention is the condition of the Ahmadi community in Pakistan. Muslim groups view the Ahmadi as heretical, and the Ahmadi have suffered from occasional violent attacks by fundamentalist citizens, we have on several occasions raised the issue with the government of Pakistan.”
Referring to Sing, Gilder said: “recently there has been a sharp increase in violence between rival ethnic groups in the country. This has appeared most seriously in the province of Sind where law and order has seriously deteriorated.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 27, 1990
