KARACHI: The Concerned Citizens for Peace (CCP) is holding a public gathering today (Saturday) at The Arts Council, Karachi, from 6pm to 9pm to commemorate the late Sabeen Mahmud, founder of PeaceNiche and T2F (The Second Floor), and to pay tribute to the other fallen heroes – journalists, workers, and activists – who have been silenced for standing up for justice and freedom of expression in Pakistan.

Sabeen was murdered on April 24, 2015, as she was returning home after organising a discussion on human rights abuses in Balochistan. Her assassination was not the first of its kind, and it took place on a continuum of such developments in Pakistan, along with legal and policy measures that are poised to infringe on civil liberties, such as the action in aid of civil power, Pakistan Protection Act, setting up military courts, and now the proposed cybercrime bill. Speakers at the gathering will address key areas where freedom of speech and those who exercise this freedom are particularly at risk.

There will be talks and recitations by writer and women’s rights activist Amar Sindhu, professor and educationist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, literary figure and activist FahmidaRiaz, journalist and digital rights activist Farieha Aziz, actor Fawad Khan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Director IA Rehman, Baloch rights activist Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur, bonded labour activist VeeruKohli, friend and mentor of Sabeen Mahmud ZaheerKidvai and journalist and novelist Mohammed Hanif.

Sounds of Kolachi, a collaborative musical project, will perform resistance songs at the end of the event.

Farieha Aziz, director of Bolo Bhi, has said that the proposed cybercrime bill will directly impact the freedom of expression of Pakistanis.

“The cybercrime bill will affect the average user’s entire activity on the Internet.” Aziz said. “Sending someone an email without getting their permission first could become a crime. In addition, the PTA has been given the power to wipe out anything it considers objectionable from the Internet.”

Journalist and author Mohammed Hanif, who will be speaking at the event, recently highlighted the dangers for journalists in a video message recorded for the CCP.

“A trend has started to silence voices that are unpopular in certain quarters,” Hanif said. “Some voices are bought into silence, some are given jobs to silence them; some are silenced by not giving them a platform. If you are a journalist in Balochistan or the tribal areas, your expected lifespan becomes half that of the average Pakistani’s. Dozens of our fellow journalists from these areas have either been killed, or have left journalism, or have been forced to leave the country.” However, Hanif said we must not think that with the silencing of Sabeen’s voice, the whole city of Karachi should go dumb with fear. “It is critical that we come together,” he said.

Daily Times

KARACHI: Sabeen Mahmud, the respected human rights and free speech activist was killed by unidentified gunmen on Friday, April 24 in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city. Mahmud, who was founding director of T2F community centre, was shot around 9pm as she was on her way to home with her mother after hosting an event ‘Unsilencing Balochistan” on the disappeared people of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province.

According to the police reports Mahmud was intercepted by armed men in two motorcycles, who opened fire from both sides of her car. She was fatally injured with bullets that went through her shoulder, chest and abdomen. Her mother was also injured in the attack and is recovering.

She was the director of The Second Floor knowingly T2F a café and arts space that has been a foundation of Karachi’s activists since 2007. T2F, described as a community space for open dialogue.

The murder has been widely condemned by people from all walks of life.

Pakistan Press Foundation

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KARACHI: Sabeen Mahmud, social media campaigner and human rights activist who founded the social forum T2F, was shot dead on Friday evening, minutes after the end of an interactive discussion ‘Unsilen­cing Balochistan’ organised by her and attended by journalists and rights activists, including the founder leader of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, Abdul Qadeer Baloch.

Karachi-South Deputy Inspector General of Police Dr Jamil Ahmed ruled out the killing as result of a mugging attempt and said she had been attacked deliberately but he could not share any possible motive.

“She was returning home with her mother in a car after the seminar she had organised on Balochistan,” he said.

“It’s an incident of targeted killing, but we are not aware of any threats she had been receiving. The investigations are on and it would be too early to speculate about the motive behind the killing,” the official said.

Defence police SHO Kansan Dean said pillion riders on a motorcycle attacked Ms Mehmud and her mother on Sunset Boulevard in DHA Phase-II after they had left the T2F in a car. Both of them suffered bullet injuries and were taken to a nearby private hospital where doctors pronounced Sabeen dead.

Her mother was shifted to the Aga Khan University Hospital.

The body was taken to the Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre for post-mortem.

“She sustained four bullet injuries on her face, neck and chest,” police surgeon Dr Jalil Qadir said. Her autopsy, conducted by senior medico-legal officer Dr Nasreen Qamar, also showed injuries on her arm and shoulder that might be bullet exit wounds, added the police surgeon.

Half an hour before her murder, Sabeen Mehmud’s Facebook status read: “Unsilencing Balochistan (Take 2) with Wusatullah Khan, Mama Qadeer, Farzana Baloch and Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur. Moderated by Moneeza Ahmed.”

“It appears that an attempt is being made to silence human rights defenders or those who take up the causes of the people,” the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Chairperson Zohra Yusuf said after the incident.

“This is a shocking event for the city and citizens as T2F has been providing a space to the people to express their views,” the prominent rights activist said. On Thursday at 6.30pm, Sabeen Mehmud had also organised a seminar about the Balochistan situation, she said.

“It was the same seminar which was organised by LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences) where three speakers – Mama Qadeer, Farzana Majeed and Mohammed Ali Talpur – were the same, but it was cancelled under alleged pressure of ISI,” the HRCP chief said.

“It can’t be said categorically that her murder was linked with this event,” Ms Yusuf said.

“As Ms Sabeen has been consistently providing the space of T2F to discuss the issues of human rights, cultural diversity etc due to which she had received threats, prompting her to hire the services of a security guard,” she said.

“She was trying to promote liberal and rational thinking, which is lacking in society,” said Ms Yusuf.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who is in charge of the home ministry, sought a report about the incident and ordered the city police chief to arrest the killers.

Karachi police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo formed a special team, headed by a DIG, to investigate the murder, according to a spokesman.

Dawn

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