AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

landline, mobile and internet service
providers undermined a range of rights and
residents said it left them unable to reach
urgent medical assistance.
Pakistani media workers faced
occupational hazards like abduction, arbitrary
arrest and detention, intimidation, killings
and harassment by state and non-state
actors. A grenade attack on ARY TV’s offices
in the capital, Islamabad, was one of many
strikes against media workers, and freedom
of expression generally. Pamphlets left at the
scene claimed that an armed group allied to
IS was responsible.
In Sri Lanka, Sandhya Eknaligoda – wife of
disappeared dissident cartoonist Prageeth
Eknaligoda – faced repeated threats and
other intimidation after the police identified
seven suspects, members of army
intelligence, in connection with his enforced
disappearance. This intimidation included
protests outside the court hearing her
husband’s habeas corpus case, and a poster
campaign accusing her of supporting the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Freedom of expression continued to be
under attack in Bangladesh where the
authorities grew increasingly intolerant of
independent media and critical voices. Amid
the severely deteriorating human rights
situation, a string of journalists were arrested
and arbitrarily detained; peaceful dissent was
suppressed under draconian laws invoked to
hound critics on social media. Student
activist Dilip Roy was detained for criticizing
the Prime Minister on Facebook, and faced a
possible 14-year prison sentence under the
vaguely worded Information and
Communications Technology Act, used by the
authorities to threaten and punish people
who peacefully expressed views they disliked.
In Maldives, where human rights had been
under increased attack in recent years, the
government intensified assaults on freedoms
of expression and assembly by imposing
arbitrary restrictions to prevent protest.
Authorities also silenced political opponents,
human rights defenders, and journalists,
using legislation criminalizing “defamatory”
speech, remarks and other actions.
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
Due to its ongoing conflict, Afghanistan was
the world’s second-largest refugee-producing
country. The crisis affected huge numbers of
people with over two million in Pakistan and
Iran alone and large numbers trying to reach
the EU. An EU-Afghanistan deal required
Afghanistan to re-admit any Afghan citizen
who had not been granted asylum in the EU.
However, continuing instability made it
impossible for many refugees and asylumseekers
to return home voluntarily in safety.
Although Afghans risking their lives on
dangerous journeys to Europe made
headlines, the vast majority lacked the
resources to leave. The number of people
forced to flee their homes and becoming
internally displaced reached an estimated
1.4 million in 2016, more than twice that of
the three previous years. In the same threeyear
period, international aid to Afghanistan
halved as donors’ attention shifted following
the withdrawal of international troops. The
plight of those suffering in appalling
conditions and struggling to survive in
overcrowded camps with inadequate shelter,
food, water and health care was at risk of
being forgotten.
For Afghan refugees in Pakistan, the
situation was bleak as the Pakistani
government planned one of the largest
forcible returns of refugees in modern history
putting about 1.4 million people, whose
registration was expected to expire at the end
of the year, at risk. The authorities imposed
several unfeasible deadlines, which they then
reluctantly extended, for the return of
refugees to Afghanistan. The move triggered
waves of harassment from police and officials
and the refugees were left trapped in the
uncertain limbo of their camps.
In other instances, Pakistan breached the
principle of non-refoulement and placed
Afghan refugees at risk of serious abuses. For
example, the decision to deport Sharbat Gula
back to a country she had not seen in a
generation and which her children had never
known was emblematic of Pakistan’s cruel
treatment of Afghan refugees. She was the
36 Amnesty International Report 2016/17