Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring to the attention of the House the recent rise in human rights abuses perpetrated against minority groups in Pakistan.
The Baloch Human Rights Organization reports that this past August alone, 91 people were extrajudicially executed and 138 individuals have disappeared. Women and children are the primary victims of these violations. Just days before Christmas, on December 17, at least nine members of the Christian community lost their lives in a terrorist attack at a Methodist church in Balochistan's capital.
The Muhajir people have also been regular victims of these increasing violent attacks. On January 14, Hassan Zafar Arif, a professor of philosophy, was abducted by law enforcement agents, brutally tortured, and killed on the basis of his criticism of the political and economic system in Pakistan, as well as his well-known allegiance to the Muttahida Quami Movement, or the MQM.
Today, I ask that all members join me in condemning these violations of human rights in Pakistan and recognize Canada's duty to work toward the elimination of sectarian and ethnic violence.