‘Another Taseer targeted’:

HRCP urges safe recovery of abducted Shahbaz Taseer

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed alarm at the abduction of Shahbaz Taseer, son of EX-Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, and called upon the government to ensure his early and safe recovery.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Commission said: “HRCP is alarmed at the abduction of Shahbaz Taseer, which highlights the government’s inability to afford security and protection even to those known to be at high risk. Such brazen crimes reflect a general deterioration of law and order and add to the sense of insecurity that the people have now grown accustomed to.

If those assigned special security are not safe from being snatched in broad daylight in the heart of the country’s second most populous city, the lot of the common person is not that difficult to imagine.

While it is too early to speculate about the abductors’ motives, HRCP calls upon the government to ensure that Shahbaz is recovered speedily and his abductors are held to account. It also demands that rather than responding to crime after it occurs, the government must invest its efforts and resources in preventing crime, irrespective of the victim’s identity.”