UPDATE: On November 16, 2007 the Pakistani authorities lifted the house arrest order against Asma Jahangir. Nonetheless, thousands of other activists and political opponents remain in detention or under house arrest and we are continuing to call for their release.
On November 3, the President and Armed Forces Chief of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, suspended the constitution and placed members of the Supreme Court under house arrest when they refused to endorse his actions.
Although government officials cited the threat posed by terrorists and radicals, most of the thousands arrested since then are members of the opposition, judiciary, and human rights groups.
Asma Jahangir, recipient of the 1999 Human Rights Award from Human Rights First, was immediately placed under house arrest after a detention order cited "credible information that [she] will deliver inflammatory speeches for instigating the general public."
On November 4, 55 leading human right activists were arrested while meeting at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a non-government organization in Lahore.
On November 5, thousands of lawyers in Lahore took to the streets to protest emergency rule. Police violently disbursed the protest using clubs and tear gas, arresting hundreds of people.
A detention order has also reportedly been issued for Hina Jilani, Jahangir's sister and the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Human Rights Defenders, who was out of the country when emergency rule was imposed.
Please call on President Musharraf to:
* immediately revoke Provisional Constitution Order No. 1 of 2007 and restore all the rights and freedoms provided in the Constitution
* reinstate the Supreme Court
* release from detention and house arrest all of those detained, and cancel the detention order of Hina Jilani
