LAHORE: The launch ceremony of Peter Jacob’s book titled ‘Pakistan Ka Muqaddama Aqwam-e-Muttahida Mein’ (Pakistan’s case in the United Nations) was held on Thursday. The book has been published by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (JCJP). Khalid Ahmed, a senior political analyst and journalist was the chief guest of the event. Hussain Naqi and Irfan Mufti also attended the launch.
The book offers a unique discourse which took place in the Universal Periodic Review, on the situation of human rights in Pakistan. Pakistan has been a member of the human rights council since its inception in 2006. The country review involved three major stakeholders; the state under review, NGOs and the UN bodies.
The civil society report, which is the crux of the book, was prepared in the challenging environment of 2007 and 2008. The situation of human rights in Pakistan was reviewed in May 2008, and recommendations were adopted in June that year.
The recommendations submitted by 47 member states of the UN Human Rights Council and the response of the government of Pakistan constitutes the most interesting part of the book as it allows the reader to assess the implementation and follow up of these recommendations till 2010. The stance adopted by international and national human rights organizations on the entire review and an article on religious minorities in Pakistan by Haris Khalique are also included in the book.
Besides the most pressing issues of that time such as civil liberties, disappearances, counter terrorism policy and independence of the judiciary, the book analyzes perennial human rights issues such as political, economic, social and cultural labor, rights of women, minors, prisoners, religious and national minorities.
