LONDON: The UK marked Human Rights Day on Friday by announcing sanctions against the Myanmar military and a former commander of the Pakistan terrorist organisation responsible for the terror attack in the country.
Furqan Bangalzai, a former commander in the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who helped orchestrate the 2017 bombing of the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Pakistan, has been designated for his role in the attack, which claimed the lives of more than 70 Sufi worshippers.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the latest sanctions reinforce the UK's commitment to defending religious freedom where people of the minority faith were facing persecution.
The sanctions made today target some of the most callous violations and abuses of human rights, including cases where civilians suffer unrelenting state repression and worshippers have been targeted and killed for their religious beliefs, said Lord Tariq Ahmad, FCDO Minister of State for South Asia, the UN, and the Commonwealth and the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.
The UK will always be a fierce champion of human rights and we will work with our fellow democracies and partners, as a network of liberty, to hold to account those who deny these fundamental freedoms, he said.
The sanction against Bangalzai, designated under the Global Human Rights Sanctions regime, means he cannot freely travel to the UK, channel money through UK banks or profit from the UK economy.
New sanctions against the Myanmar military are imposed for the continued suppression of the civilian population and for serious human rights violations, the FCDO said.
The sanctions, announced alongside the US and Canada, demonstrate the UK's staunch commitment to hold Myanmar's military accountable for human rights violations and our resolve to act, together with our partners, to limit its access to arms, equipment and funding, it added.
The designations made under the Myanmar (Sanctions) Regulations 2021 cover the Quarter Master General's Office, which plays a crucial role in procuring equipment for the Myanmar Armed Forces and is responsible for overseeing a campaign of violence and human rights violations across Myanmar.
The others on the sanctioned list include: the Directorate for Defence Industries, a state-owned enterprise that has manufactured weapons and technology used by the Myanmar military; the Directorate for Defence Procurement, responsible for buying arms from abroad used by the Myanmar military to undermine democracy and violate fundamental rights of the civilian population; and the Myanmar War Veterans Organisation, a quasi-reserve force for the Myanmar military which has publicly supported the military's undermining of democracy, violation of human rights, and repression of the civilian population.