The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. Riaz Fatyana, a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League Q and a substitute member of the IPU Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights, and to the resolution it adopted at its 191st session (October 2012),

Taking into account the information provided by a member of the delegation of Pakistan who appeared before the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians during the 129th IPU Assembly (Geneva, October 2013), and  the information transmitted by the sources,

Recalling that Mr. Fatyana was the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Rights and has been a vocal critic of Pakistan’s police system, repeatedly denouncing police heavy-handedness and brutality in parliamentary debates, and that he has been outspoken on other violations of human rights, such as missing persons, targeted and extrajudicial killings, abuse of authority and acts of torture carried out by law enforcement agencies,

Recalling the following information provided by the sources:

• On 19 June 2012, Mr. Fatyana’s residence was attacked by a group of activists from the ruling political party in Punjab province, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N);

• The police, when they arrived at the scene, allegedly allowed the attackers free access to his house and arbitrarily arrested and kept Mr. Fatyana in detention until 21 June 2012; 13 of Mr. Fatyana’s employees were arrested at the same time and were reportedly charged, together with Mr. Fatyana, with killing one of the attackers, an allegation which the sources claim is false;

• During Mr. Fatyana’s detention, the police brought charges against him for being involved in the attack against his own residence, including through arson (FIR No. 205/12); the sources allege that these charges were fabricated and are not supported by any evidence; after a long investigation the case against Mr. Fatyana was dismissed; however, the 13 employees arrested with Mr. Fatyana were kept in detention in Toba Tek Singh district of Punjab province;

• The police refused to register Mr. Fatyana’s complaint about the attack for three days, but eventually did so on 22 June 2012, following the intervention of the Provincial Police Office (FIR No. 206/12); no serious investigation was undertaken by the police, and none of the attackers were arrested; it appears that the report of the Commissioner and the District Coordinator Officer on the incident exposed a personal vendetta of the local police against Mr. Fatyana and confirmed the names of the accused; however, instead of arresting these suspects, the police arrested a member of Mr. Fatyana’s personal staff;

• Mr. Fatyana was threatened by the police both during and after his detention, and has been forced to flee, together with his entire family; while in detention, he was told by police officials that he should not run in the forthcoming National Assembly elections, otherwise he and his family would face reprisals;

• The sources believe that Mr. Fatyana has been framed by the Punjab police, at the instigation of PML-N leaders in Punjab and of Mr. Chourdry Asad ur Rehman Ramdey, his long-standing main political opponent in the constituency, in order to sideline him in the run-up to the general elections in May 2013; the sources indicated that the local police, the lower ranks of the judiciary and the local administration of Punjab are completely controlled by these officials,

Recalling that a member of the delegation of Pakistan to the 127th Assembly (Quebec, October 2012) confirmed that the National Assembly was fully informed of the situation and that the Speaker had strongly condemned the attack against Mr. Fatyana,

Taking into account that, during the 129th Assembly, the member of the delegation of Pakistan who met with the Committee confirmed the acquittal of Mr. Fatyana and his employees and the fact that the case against his attackers remained pending before the trial court of Kamalia; however, contrary to the source, he indicated that the attackers had been arrested; he further stated that the Parliament had not been able to formally monitor Mr. Fatyana’s situation and the judicial proceedings as no formal mechanism exists within the Parliament of Pakistan enabling it to do so; he observed that attention has shifted from his case now that Mr. Fatyana is no longer a member of Parliament following the May 2013 general elections,

1. Thanks the member of the delegation of Pakistan for the information provided;

2. Notes with interest that Mr. Fatyana has been acquitted of murder charges but remains deeply disturbed that, 18 months after the attack against Mr. Fatyana’s residence, the case has not yet been resolved although the identities of the attackers are known to the competent authorities; observes that it has received contradictory information regarding the arrests of the alleged attackers and wishes to receive official information on this matter; further wishes to ascertain whether complicit police officers have been sanctioned;

3. Requests the Committee to continue monitoring closely the proceedings, particularly in the case pending before the trial court of Kamalia against Mr. Fatyana’s attackers, paying particular attention to due process, and wishes to be kept informed of any developments in that respect;

4. Is alarmed that Mr. Fatyana and his family have continued receiving serious threats; observes that this situation greatly affected Mr. Fatyana’s ability to reach out to his constituents and therefore to carry out his parliamentary mandate and notes with concern that the source claims in this regard that Mr. Fatyana was prevented from campaigning freely for re-election due to police refusal to provide him with appropriate protection;

5. Recalls that each Parliament has a special interest to ensure that crimes against its members do not remain unpunished and trusts the Pakistani Parliament will take appropriate action in that respect even though Mr. Fatyana is no longer a member;

6. Notes that no formal mechanism is currently in place to enable the Pakistani Parliament to monitor the situation of parliamentarians whose rights are allegedly being violated, including by following judicial proceedings, and therefore invites the Parliament to consider establishing such a mechanism as part of its oversight function;

7. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the Speaker of the National Assembly;

8. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case.

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