On the HRCP report

Successes few; failures many

HRCP’s yearly reports keep the public informed on the state of the human rights in Pakistan. The conclusions are based on field research and are supported by facts, figures and visuals. The present report which was published a few weeks back records the progress made and goals missed during 2011. Studied along with the earlier reports covering the years 2008, 2009 and 2010 important conclusions can be made about the record of the elected government.

First, the successes achieved. The last four years were marked by greater freedom of assembly, expression, and movement. A new law on industrial relations freed the trade unions from some of the curbs imposed on industrial labour. The 18th Amendment passed in 2010 acknowledged three more rights to the citizens: right to education, information and to fair trial.

The same year the Commission of Enquiry on Missing Persons cited the intelligence agencies’ role in enforced disappearances. For the first time, the SC issued notices to the agencies’ heads. In 2011, with the ratification of a key child rights instrument, all core international treaties related to human rights stood endorsed by Islamabad. The progress recorded over the last four years strengthens the view that even the worst democracy is better than a military rule, be it direct or indirect.

There still remains, however, a formidable list of consistent failures. Both in the case of the international instruments and domestic legislation regarding crucial rights, no attempt was made to evolve an implementation mechanism. The 18th Amendment recognises free and compulsory education as a right of the children between age 5 to 16. What one sees happening on the ground is the opposite. In the fiscal year 2010-11, the government reduced the education development budget to Rs 9.2 billion compared to Rs 11.3 billion in 2009-10. On Friday UNICEF Pakistan Representative Dan Rohrmann told media that around 20 million children in Pakistan, including an estimated 7.3 million of primary school age, are not in school.

Involuntary disappearances continue to take place. Earlier those taken away were kept in illegal confinement, sometime for years. Now there are complaints of extrajudicial killings of those kidnapped by the agencies. Another consistent failure is Karachi where incidents of target killings have peaked year after year since 1988 and lawlessness took a toll of 1,715 victims in sudden flare ups of violence in 2011 alone.

Given that criminal mafias enjoy increasing political patronage, the report grimly states, “Weapons, and reliance on criminal elements has become such a feature of the political scene that only those having these tools would be able to contest the next elections in Karachi.” The Election Commission and the government should pay heed to the observation.

Despite considering itself an enlightened party, the PPP looked the other way in 2008 elections when women were not allowed to vote in certain constituencies through an understanding between the local elders and the political parties. The complaints have continued during the subsequent by-elections.

There is a persistent failure in ensuring people’s representation at the grass roots level. It is ironic that while local bodies elections are regularly held under military rulers, elected governments usually shun them.

Suppression and oppression of minorities and of all those whose beliefs differed from those of the extremists continues as before. Prominent among the incidents is the attack on the Christian community in Gojra in 2009, the Ahmadi killings in Lahore in 2010, the killing of Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti in 2011, and attacks on Shia religious processions and forced conversions of Christian girls throughout this period. Despite claims of providing protection to the minorities, the government has failed to stop the abduction of Hindus for ransom in Balochistan and Sindh.

The HRCP report raises vital questions that need to be debated. Foremost is the question about the expanding role of the Supreme Court and its possible impact on the judiciary’s relations with the executive and parliament. Hasn’t the SC put more on its plate than it can chew? Can the SC simultaneously function as an ombudsman’s office, an administrative court, an anti-corruption tribunal, as a supreme investigation agency, as the sole defender of not only the constitution but also of public morality besides doing its normal duties?

The report criticises a section of the media for promoting extremist agendas. The media suggested through insinuations that Taseer had committed blasphemy by criticising the blasphemy law and deserved to be dealt with as a blasphemer. The media also suffers from self-censorship as instead of reporting in an unbiased and responsible manner on major issues confronting Pakistan, the media often prefers to stay quiet. Has this not happened in the case of Balochistan and attacks on minorities?

The writer is a former academic and a political analyst.