UN rights expert protests against shooting of farmer by Pakistani Rangers

A United Nations human rights expert called on the Government of Pakistan today to stop further violence between tenants and a Ranger unit at military-controlled farms in Okara to fully investigate the killing of a farmer earlier this week and to punish the perpetrators.

The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Asma Jahangir, said in a statement in Geneva that she was gravely concerned by the potentially dangerous situation developing at Okara after “the excessive force used by the Rangers during the 11 May demonstration.”

Ms. Jahangir said she had received reports that a group of Rangers, a unit under the direct control of the Pakistani military, shot at a crowd demonstrating against the Rangers' excessive use of force on previous occasions, killing a farmer, Amir Ali.

“The Rangers have surrounded the tenants of the farms and there are grave apprehensions of further violence, according to the information received and seen by the Special Rapporteur during her visits to the area, including on 12 May,” the statement added.

“The Special Rapporteur urges the Government of Pakistan to fully investigate the circumstances of the killing of Amir Ali and to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the statement said. “The Special Rapporteur also calls on the Government to hold an independent inquiry into the ongoing confrontation between the Rangers and the tenants in the Okara farms.”