Islamabad: Pakistan government has withdrawn the police security provided to leading human rights activist Ansar Burney, who said the move appeared to be linked to his recent visit to India and exposed him to "extreme danger".

Burney, who has received many threats for his work including his campaign to save Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh, has had police security for the past 15 years.

Five guards posted at Burney's home in the port city of Karachi and two armed bodyguards assigned to him were withdrawn on October 25, on the eve of his visit to India to accept the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for his work for human rights and social justice.

Burney said no reason had been given so far by authorities for the move. "All the security provided to me has been removed due to my pro-human rights policies, struggle for the release of innocent Indian and Pakistani prisoners and my recent trip to India," he told PTI.

"It looks like I am being made to pay a big price for taking up the cause of Indian and other innocent prisoners in Pakistan," he said, adding that he believed the move was also linked to his campaign to get Sarabjit's death sentence converted to life imprisonment.

Burney, the former Human Rights Minister, claimed he had received fresh threats from Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamat-ud-Dawa, the group formed by Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, jehadi organisations and radical Islamist groups for taking up Sarabjit's case and securing the release of another Indian death row prisoner, Kashmir Singh.

He said the government "has exposed me and my family to extreme danger by withdrawing my guards. But I will continue with my mission of safeguarding human rights and human dignity without any fear or discrimination."
Source : PTI