Pakistani rights worker: Charges against family unfounded

The charges against the 66-year-old Ismail and his family include an allegation by Pakistan's civilian investigation agencies lodged with an anti-terrorist court in the northwest city of Peshawar. It alleges that a donation to his daughter's children's charity, Aware Girls, was spent on cars that were used as suicide bombs.

An elderly Pakistani human rights worker said Friday his wife and their daughter — who has already fled to America after being targeted by the country's powerful military for her investigations into human rights abuses by soldiers — face new terrorism-related charges. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, retired university professor Mohammad Ismail said he has a number of court appearances this month after an anti-terrorism court charged him, his wife, and daughter with involvement in two suicide attacks, one in 2013 and one in 2015.

"They just want to get our girl with these terrorist financing charges," said Ismail. " Because they can't get her they are going after me and my wife, who is a housewife, who has not even had an education but still they are after her." Rights workers in Pakistan like Ismail, and journalists, have increasingly come under attack by Pakistan's government and security establishments, restricting the space for criticism and dissent. "We are deeply concerned at increasing attempts to control the media, suppress independent voices, and curb political dissent, thereby creating an environment of constant fear," said the highly respected independent human rights commission in Pakistan in a recent statement.

"It is the responsibility of the government to provide safety and security to every citizen, irrespective of his or her religious or political beliefs." Ismail denies the charges against him and says they are aimed at intimidating his daughter, Gulalai Ismail, who fled to safety in the United States earlier this year. The charges against the 66-year-old Ismail and his family include an allegation by Pakistan's civilian investigation agencies lodged with an anti-terrorist court in the northwest city of Peshawar.

It alleges that a donation to his daughter's children's charity, Aware Girls, was spent on cars that were used as suicide bombs. Aware Girls fights discrimination and abuse of girls and women.