Protests in NY over atrocities on minorities in Pak

The US-based advocacy group, Voice of Karachi launched the campaign to raise awareness among the international community about the ethnic persecution and gross human rights violations in the Islamic republic.

New York: Hundreds of taxis and trucks appeared on the busy streets of New York on Thursday morning displaying atrocities against minorities in Pakistan. The yellow taxicabs and mini trucks carrying rooftop digital advertising highlighted the plight and miseries that minorities are facing in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The campaign launched just ahead of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's scheduled address to the UN General Assembly on Friday has been launched by a US-based advocacy group, 'Voice of Karachi'.

Some ads were seen on the taxis and trucks plying around the UN headquarters said, "Pakistan: A country in denial of UN charter on Human rights" and "Mohajirs demand the UN intervention in Pakistan."

"Since Pakistan does not allow Mohajirs to hold even a peaceful protest against such injustices, we have no other option but to approach the United Nations and other international bodies to seek their intervention. It is our moral, human, and democratic right," Karachi's former mayor Wasay Jalil told media.

He added, "Atrocities are being committed against Mohajirs, it has been going on for decades, we have lost more than 25,000 lives & there have been thousands of forced disappearances. We want to apprise the world of our situation caused by Pakistan."

Emphasising that the campaign's goal is to raise awareness among the international community about the ethnic persecution and gross human rights violations in Karachi, Voice of Karachi chairman Nadeem Nusrat told the media that it's ironic on part of Pakistan and Prime Minister Imran Khan to peddle a false narrative on Kashmir issue at the UN in New York when Pakistan's minorities are facing the worst human rights violations.

"It is really shameful that Pakistan says India is against Muslims. Pakistan has literally curbed and created a hell for the religious minorities. While Islamabad talks about Kashmir, there are almost half a million Pakistanis who are still living in red cross camps in Bangladesh. It doesn't make any sense what Pakistan talks about people living across the border but ignores its own people at the same time," Nusrat said.

"We want Pakistan to treat all its ethnic and religious minorities with the dignity that they deserve I think it would be better for the Pakistani Prime Minister to fix his own home first before talking about other issues," the activist stressed.

Besides the publicity campaign lined up in New York, 'Voice of Karachi' has also written to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres seeking justice for the people of Karachi and victims of state-sponsored oppression in Pakistan.