PM apologises to Pak human rights activist

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologised to Pakistan human rights activist Asma Jehangir on Thursday after Delhi Police searched her hotel room without a warrant.

Singh, who knows Jehangir, spoke to her and apologised for the incident, Prime Minister’s media adviser Sanjaya Baru said.

Jehangir, who is part of a Pakistani delegation to discuss human rights violations in South Asian countries, said she had checked into a hotel in Sundar Nagar in South Delhi on Monday. Shortly thereafter, police had “barged” into their rooms and started going through their luggage and other belongings, she said.

The police also zeroed in on the other Pakistan delegate IA Rehman. The police say they were doing this as a routine check ahead of Independence Day.

Significantly delegates from Sri Lanka and Nepal were not subjected to similar humiliation.

“What the police did was so utterly lawless and shameful that I hang my head in shame,’’ said well known human rights activist Colin Gonzalves .

With New Delhi pointing an accusing finger at Pakistan after the Mubai bomb blasts, relations with Pakistan has gone into deep freeze, despite a meeting of foreign secretary Shyam Saran with his counter part in Dhaka.

In  keeping with the  general belligerent mood, the police decided to take action without verifying their antecedents .