UNITED NATIONS – Ducking the drone issue, the US has voiced concerns over what it called “growing instability” in Balochistan.US Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Eileen Donahoe, alleged that security squads in the province, under their kill-and-dispose of policy, have been “targeting proponents of civic rights, local activists and their families, journalists, political workers and student leaders, therefore the Baloch society has been alienating and chances of peace there have been shrinking”. Donahoe, while taking part in the debate on the human rights situation in Pakistan during a UN Human Rights Council meeting Tuesday, demanded that this drive to gag opponents through the use of force be stopped, and those responsible for torturing and lifting people at the national level be brought to justice. According to BBC, the US envoy also expressed apprehensions over the increasing attacks on Shias and Pakistani authorities’ sluggishness to investigate them. Donahoe, however, did not make any mention of US drone strikes that some believe she should have. The UN Human Rights Council, elections for which are heating up, allowed a mere 80 seconds per speaker on candidate Pakistan.Including Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, most of the Western countries called for amendments to the blasphemy law in the light of the international conventions; signing of international convention against enforced disappearance of civilians; effective execution of the rights of women, children, religious and ethnic minorities; effective implementation of the existing laws to discourage the trend of forced marriages and human trafficking. They also called for the protection of human rights activists and journalists. Algiers, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia, many African and Asian Muslim countries, and China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and Sri Lanka expressed satisfaction over the progress in legislation about human rights in Pakistan, keeping in view the economic, political and terrorism challenges facing it. Nevertheless, Indian delegation did not participate in the UN review meeting for Pakistan, although it was present in Geneva. Report Courtesy: Daily The Nation, Pakistan
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