Pak and Saudi Arabia flouted international law, says Human Rights Watch

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have flouted international law by forcibly sending former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif into exile in Saudi Arabia.

Washington, Sept 11 : The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have flouted international law by forcibly sending former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif into exile in Saudi Arabia.

In a press statement released by the organisation, it stated that Pakistani government's actions were a direct affront to the their country's Constitution and a recent Supreme Court ruling.

"Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have colluded in bundling a Pakistani citizen into a plane and forced exile," Daily Times quoted Ali Dayan Hasan, HRW's South Asia researcher, as saying.

"Sharif must be allowed to leave Saudi Arabia and return to Pakistan if he so wishes, and the international media and independent monitors must be provided immediate access to him," he added.

Hasan quoted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile." It also states that everyone has the right "to return to his country."

"Anything less would make a mockery of international law," he added.

HRW also urged the US to condemn the Monday's incident, since the latter has termed the entire episode as Pakistan's internal matter.

"The US is not immune to the fallout when two of its closest allies conspire to deny a political opposition leader the right to return to his own country," Hasan said, adding that US's continued accepting of its allies' 'repression of political opponents in exchange for cooperation in the War on Terror is "unwise and wrong".

ANI