NEW YORK, June 5 (UPI) -- Human Rights Watch called on Europe's top foreign policy chief to pressure the Pakistani government to address ongoing concerns in the country.
Catherine Ashton, the top foreign policy official for the European Commission, arrived Tuesday in Pakistan to discuss judicial reform and regional stability issues.
Ali Dayan Hasan, director of Pakistani affairs at Human Rights Watch, said the organization has lingering concerns about enforced disappearances, the rights of religious minorities and widespread killings.
"Ashton should communicate to Pakistani authorities that ending the culture of abuse and discrimination is essential for Pakistan to have a meaningful relationship with the European Union," Hasan said in a statement from New York.
The rights organization said Pakistani security forces are allegedly behind a so-called kill and dump operation in Balochistan, an operation targeting the ethnic Baloch population. Enforced disappearances against the community target members of a nationalist movement.
Meanwhile, members of the Shiite community in Pakistan have faced an "unprecedented" level of insecurity and persecution in the country since 2008, Human Rights Watch said.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay announced plans to set off on a four-day mission to Pakistan this week, though it was unclear if her visit was coordinated with Ashton's.
