2007年VOA标准英语-Pakistan's Human Rights Record under Fire

By Simon Marks
Lahore, Pakistan
20 September 2007
 

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is under fire over his country's human rights record. Western and Pakistani human rights groups accuse the military ruler of tolerating abuses as Pakistan tries to combat the threat of terrorism. But senior figures within the Pakistani government say the country's intelligence agencies are doing what they need to do to overcome real threats. From Lahore, Simon Marks reports.

The dusty legal files are stacked to the ceiling of Asma Jahangir's office in Lahore. And each one tells a story about an ongoing¹ battle to protect the rights of the individual in Pakistan.

Asma Jahangir

Jahangir chairs the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. It is an independent, non-governmental organization that seeks to protect women and children who have been raped² and abused, families whose assets have been summarily expropriated and relatives of people who have disappeared after being taken into custody³. "There are hundreds of people who have disappeared and we have gone to court with a list of something like 175 people who still remain disappeared out of which some were recovered, and 95 are still not there."

On that issue, Pakistan's Supreme⁴ Court has now intervened, ordering the government to produce and release dozens of people that Pakistan's intelligence services have denied ever holding.

But the Pakistani authorities are still accused of abuses, including arbitrary detention⁵, torture, and unexplained deaths-in-custody.

Of particular concern to activists⁶ is the situation in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, where the government is fighting a nationalist uprising. "Torture is just routine, and if you are not tortured you are really lucky and exceptional. The government acts with impunity⁷.  You go to Baluchistan and you will find out how many people have been killed, bombarded there, and the government continues to say that these are 'miscreants⁸.'" 

President Musharraf's government says it is fighting a front-line role in the global war on terror. Taleban and al-Qaida forces have regrouped along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

And suicide bomb attacks -- like one earlier this month  in Rawalpindi at the headquarters of the Pakistani Army -- have destabilized the country's towns and cities. It is against that background that Pakistani government ministers acknowledge the intelligence agencies sometime cut corners in a bid to safeguard the country.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed is Pakistan's Railways Minister, and a close aide to President Musharraf. "There are some cases of torture for investigations⁹, to know the news and know the network and to enter into the network."

And Ahmed says that is justified¹⁰ given the nature of the terrorist threat. "In my opinion, for such kind of people and things, you know you have to do something like this."

Human rights activists disagree, and in Lahore, attorney Asma Jahangir has recruited a new generation of paralegals. Each has a poster demanding an end to military rule in Pakistan -- the first step, they say, to advancing the cause of human rights in the country.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

3 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

8 miscreants   

n.恶棍，歹徒( miscreant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I ordered the miscreants to let me out. 我命令这些土匪放我出去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Local people demanded that the District Magistrate apprehend the miscreants. 当地人要求地方法官逮捕那些歹徒。 来自辞典例句

9 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

10 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。