The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Saturday criticised the sealing of an Islamabad building related to the civil society organisation Pattan.

A press release issued a day ago by the organisation said the residence of Pattan National Coordinator Sarwar Bari was sealed and his family evicted.

Earlier this month, Pattan had published a report on the general elections and described them in a statement as “unprecedentedly rigged” with “vote-rigging, fraud and manipulation”. The findings were similar to its observation last year.

The press release said: “Since the launching of Pattan’s report on Pakistan general elections, Islamabad police have visited residence of Sarwar Bari, our national coordinator, twice in two weeks. On February 21, more than a dozen of police officials along with two magistrates searched his residence and later sealed it. His wife along with her 90-year-old aunt were forced to leave the home.

“As usual, the pretext that is being used to punish Pattan for discovering unprecedented rigging means in the February elections, is utterly baseless. Virtually a three-liner notice for sealing the premise carries no solid ground. It says: ‘Pattan NGO was deregistered on November 19, 2019, and since then, it has been running its affairs illegally. Hence, it was necessary to close it working and to take legal action against the organisation.’”

The organisation asserted it had never received any de-registration notice from the registration authority and also pointed to its many activities held in the presence of state officials through out its “so-called deregistration period”.

“The sealing of national coordinator’s residence and evicting his family members from home is politically motivated and we strongly condemn the brutal action of the administration,” the press release concluded.

Lambasting the development, the HRCP said it amounted to a violation of Article 14(1) of the Constitution. “Such tactics of intimidation against citizens are unacceptable. The matter should be heard immediately in a court of law,” the rights body said in a post on X.

Article 14(1) states that the dignity of a person and the privacy of their home are inviolable and subject to the law. It also states that no person can be tortured to extract evidence.

Bari, currently in London, told AFP that his home in Islamabad was sealed off on Friday night. “This is obviously in response to the report,” he told AFP.

His wife Aliya Bano said the property was closed off by a team of around two dozen, including police officers, magistrates and Islamabad administration officials.

A judge’s order to seal the residence, seen by Dawn.com, said Pattan’s registration as a non-governmental organisation had been cancelled in 2019 and it was operating illegally.

Bari said he often used his residence for Pattan meetings and postal correspondence but was adamant it was primarily his home.

Separately in a post on X, he said Pattan’s office in Multan was sealed as well by “unknown persons”.

Images of the sealed Multan office showed a notice from the Registrar Joint Stock Companies Multan that said an investigation showed Pattan was dissolved as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in 2019 and no court had as of yet cancelled the dissolution order.

“Despite this, the said NGO is running its affairs illegally. Therefore, in view of this illegal act, it is necessary to close it or take legal action against it. The property is sealed in the light of the following factors,” the notice said.

Pattan had said last year that the February 8 general elections had lost their credibility entirely as people in Pakistan as well as the international community, including the UN, demanded a thorough investigation into alleged irregularities.

Additional input from AFP.