The Asma Jahangir Conference management has “emphatically” denied allegations of manhandling Gaza protesters at the moot, as its organiser Munizae Jahangir stated that the platform was open to all and believed in a meaningful dialogue with all stakeholders on human rights issues.

“AJCONF management emphatically denies having beaten up the crowd that chanted slogans at the inaugural as alleged by Ammar Ali Jan. It’s an outrageous lie, especially when several cameras were there to capture everything,” Munizae, a journalist, said in a series of posts on social media platform X.

The clarification comes after social activist Jan claimed that students who spoke up during the German ambassador’s speech at the conference were “dragged and beaten up”.

The Progressive Students Collective also made similar claims, alleging that the organisers “assaulted the students and peeled their skin off”.

“It’s an outrageous lie, especially when several cameras were there to capture everything,” said Munizae, who hosts her show Spot Light on Aaj News.

She added that once the protest was lodged women lawyers requested the crowd of men to sit down but they became aggressive and refused to do so. “There are huge security concerns at a conference as large as AJCONF & we could not let the disruption continue as we had to proceed further and feared that the commotion may spiral & lead to a security breach.”

She added that the pro-Palestine protesters refused to attend the session when one of the organisers invited them to the Gaza session after the incident. “We are committed to freedom of speech unconditionally.”

Munizae expressed hope that the media would be fair in reporting and take their point of view as well & give some coverage to the session on Gaza where Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Occupied Palestinian Territories, Shawan Jabarin of Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, reverend Munther Isaac Pastor of Evangelical Lutheran Church spoke on killings in Gaza.

Albanese called the killings in Gaza a genocide, which was a significant statement. “Pls note she has never spoken at a Pakistani event before.”

She added that several speakers including ones opening and closing the conference called upon an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to hold Israel accountable for war crimes.