Human Rights Activist Jalila Haider Faces Brief Detention Before Flying To London

(@fidahassanain)

Human Rights activist Jalila Haider faces brief detention before flying to London

The human rights defenders condemn the FIA’s action by terming it “ill-conceived action”.

LAHORE: (Urdu Point/Pakistan Point News-Jan 20th, 2020) Human rights activist and lawyer Jalila Haider was barred from flying to the United Kingdom by officials of the Federal Investigation Agency at Lahore airport, the sources said here on Monday.

Human rights activist Jalila Haider had to fly to London on Monday morning to attend a conference there. But as she arrived at the airport, the FIA officials barred her and took her into custody, the sources said.

However, she was released from the custody and allowed to travel abroad, they added. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan strongly condemned detention of Jalila Haider by terming it “ill-conceived action” taken to target human rights activists and journalists.

Jalila, according to the sources, was on a watch-list of individuals who are under official scrutiny for alleged involvement in “anti-state” activities.

The commission, however, welcomed the decision of the authorities to allow Haider to book another flight to the UK after returning her passport and other documents to her as she was released.

Jalila Haider was listed among 100 influential women of Pakistan by BBC in 2019.

Fida Hussnain

Fida Hussnain is a lahore based journalist. He writes on politics, religion, social issues and climate change. He is also a research fellow at University of Gujrat.