Human rights in Pakistan

Since 1987, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has developed to become a broad-spectrum,
countrywide human rights body. Nationally, the HRCP has established a leading role in providing a highly
informed and independent voice in the struggle for human rights and democratic development in Pakistan - a
role increasingly recognised internationally, also. It is an independent, voluntary, non-political, non-profit
making, non-governmental organisation, registered under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860), with its
Secretariat office in Lahore. Its mission includes:

» to work for the ratification and implementation by Pakistan of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
of other related Charters, Covenants, Protocols, Resolutions, Recommendations and internationally adopted
norms;

» to promote studies in the field of human rights and mobilise public opinion in favour of accepted norms
through all available media and forums, and to carry out every category of activity to further the cause;

» to cooperate with and aid national and international groups, organisations and individuals engaged in the
romotion of human rights and to participate in meetings and congresses on human rights at home and abroad;

» to take appropriate action to prevent violations of human rights and to provide legal aid and other assistance
to victims of those violations and to individuals and groups striving to protect human rights.

Pakistan’s human rights record has dramatically improved since the reforms that took place after the tenure of
President Zia-ul-Haq in 1988. The situation of human rights in Pakistan is a complex one, as a result of the country's
diversity, large population, its status as a developing country and a sovereign, Islamic republic as well as an Islamic
democracy with a mixture of both Islamic and colonial secular laws. The Constitution of Pakistan provides for
fundamental rights, which include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and the right to bear
arms. These clauses are generally respected in practice. Clauses also provide for separation of executive and judiciary,
an independent judiciary and freedom of movement within the country and abroad.

The founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be a moderate secular state blended with some
Islamic values and principles. No Pakistani Government has ever come up with a detailed conclusion on what he
exactly meant by this. Nevertheless, Pakistan's status as an Islamic Republic should not be confused or compared with
other Islamic Republics in the region, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran. Unlike Iran, Pakistan is not a theocracy, but
rather an Islamic democracy where elections regularly takes place on time and are mostly free and fair. Most of
Pakistan's laws are secular in nature, most of which were inherited from the United Kingdom's colonial rule of modern-
day Pakistan before 1947. In recent times, there has been increasing pressure on Pakistan to amend or replace some of
its outdated laws made during the time of the British Empire.

Although the government has enacted measures to counter any problems, abuses remain. Furthermore, courts suffer
from lack of funds, outside intervention, and deep case backlogs that lead to long trial delays and lengthy pretrial
detentions. Many observers inside and outside Pakistan contend that Pakistan’s legal code is largely concerned with
crime, national security, and domestic tranquility and less with the protection of individual right
 The 2009 Freedom in the World report by Freedom House gave Pakistan a political rights rating of 4 (1 representing
free and 7 representing not free), and a civil liberties rating of 5, earning it the designation of partly free.

why the Issue of Human Rights is So Important in Pakistan

The newly elected government in Pakistan is engaged in an historic endeavor to give full effect to the principles
enshrined in the declaration [UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights] within the country. The government is
committed to democracy and protection of human rights. It is through respect for the norms of human rights, which
reflect the eternal and noble values of Islam, that they can build Pakistan into an egalitarian, dynamic, and progressive
state. Pakistan is convinced that promotion of respect for human rights is essential to strengthen the democratic
institutions, to foster national unity, and invigorate socioeconomic development. Action has been initiated by the
government to enhance the situation of women, including reservation for women of at least five percent of posts at all
levels of the administration, revival of reserved seats for women in the Parliament, and the creation of a women's police
force. Measures will be taken to address problems of minorities and other vulnerable groups. As a developing country,
Pakistan will continue to underline the importance of equitable development within and among nations as an essential
component of the strategy to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights all over the world. (Raza 2004)

The Development Issue

The Pakistani government has decided to begin deporting many of the Islamic fundamentalists who came from other
countries to settle in Peshawar and give support to the Islamic cause in the recently ended war against the Communist
government of Afghanistan. Iraq and the central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union had complained that
Pakistan is becoming a base for destabilizing move meets in their countries. The first step in the new policy has been to
tighten visa requirements on admissions to the country. A fundamentalist party that had been part of the country's-
governing Majlis-E-Amal (Islamic Society) broke in May with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has been supporting a new
coalition Muslim government while Jamaat favored a more fundamentalist element led by famous members also
criticized the government for not pursuing the introduction of Islamic law in Pakistan more vigorously.

The government still has a strong majority in parliament without Jamaat, but the party may be able to foment some
street unrest. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has come in for criticism from Christians and human rights groups for
announcing the introduction of a space for religion on national identity cards. Though Christians have been most
critical, the main target of the provision may be a Muslim sect, the Ahmadis, who are not accepted by the Muslim
majority. They may be liable for fraud charges if they say they are Muslims.
Pakistan continues to be a predominantly agrarian, rural, and feudal society. The transregional alliance forged by
feudals, generals, and bureaucrats has prevented the expansion of civil society. In addition, cultural/religious
developments, such as orthodox Islamic influences and the strict enforcement of Shari'a law, have adversely affected
the country's human rights situation. (Byfield & Byfield 2004)

The prospects for the improvement of human rights in Pakistan are bleak, although the country is ranked, according to
the comparative survey of freedom worldwide, as partly free. Death from torture in police custody is epidemic.
Indefinite detention without any charges, sometimes up to one year under Article 10 of the constitution, is
commonplace. Self-censorship is widely practiced, especially on matters relating to the armed forces and religion.
(McCarthy 2004) Traditional cultural and religious forces block political and legal equality for women. These forces
also discriminate against women in socioeconomic domains. On 2 November 2004, an all-Pakistan Working Women
Convention in Karachi expressed concerns over social attitudes towards women. The convention called for an end to
abuse of property rights, inheritance, and social traditions.
 Many human fights observers in Pakistan have objected to the action of a grand jirga of the Affidi sub-clans of the
Khyber Agency that has decided to exclude women from voting. The tribal elders' opposition to rural women's voting
rights in the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan reflects their deeply entrenched tribal hierarchy. Death for
adultery in rural areas is commonplace. The 2004 bill to expand Shari'a law preserves the subjugation of wives in
marriage and divorce proceedings. Forced or child labor is widespread in rural areas, and the central government
appears unable to prevent it. After the threat of sanction by sporting goods manufacturers and labor organizations,
Pakistani authorities have begun a crackdown on child labor in the soccer ball industry. They conducted more than
7,000 raids on various businesses between January 2001 and March 2004. (Wasif 2004)

Ethnic and religious discrimination are rampant. Baluchis, Pathans, Ahmediyans (a religious sect), Christians, Shi'ite
Muslims, and Hindus are frequent targets. The Federal Shari'a Court has prescribed the death penalty for insulting the
Prophet Mohammad.The most active and vocal human rights monitoring groups, the Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan (HRCP) and the Bonded Labor Liberation Front (BLLF), have been instrumental in promoting legislation
which bans the bonded labor system. (Kennedy & O'Brien 2004)

Statements from the Foreign Policy Leaders

Pakistan's military government has condemned "honor killings" of women, saying these [deaths] will be treated as
murders. Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan announced a human-rights package that promises promotion of
women's and children's rights. The aim is also to prevent abuses of Pakistan's controversolial blasphemy laws which
human-rights activists have complained are used to persecute religious minorities. The guiding principle of my human-
rights agenda is improvement in quality of lives of ordinary Pakistanis in real terms without which human rights would
remain a meaningless slogan, Musharraf told a conference on human rights. (R.J.C, 2004) The announcement came a
month after the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan's annual report alleged that women, children, and minorities
were being particularly targeted and that more than 1000 women were killed in the name of honor last year. The
foreign policy leaders have remarked about the current Pakistan’s human right conditions in the following words.
Violence is embedded in the Pakistani system which is predominantly feudal in its characteristics. Feudalism has links
with the so-called fundamentalism.

Religious clergy speaks the feudal language and is supported by feudal elements. 'Mullahs' are not doing anything
productive. No law can be made to abolish feudalism; hence all the wrongs in the society are going on under the
auspices of these two conservative forces. . . The social temperament and perspective is very feudal in its core.
Children and women are taken as a property. (Islam 2004)

Violation of humane values gets license from feudalism. The majority of women are illiterate; they are married off
without their consent. They are not allowed to work, and if allowed are discriminated, harassed and abused. Children
face the same fate; they are molested even by their relatives and caretakers. (Van de Berg 2004) The most common
form of violence is harassment and rape. The ineffective and defective nature of the judicial system encourages these
crimes. The offender knows either he can run away from the law, or if caught can get released by bribing the police or
pressurizing through influential people.

The society itself breeds violence by providing a violent atmosphere to the young generation. Youngsters watch their
father hitting and beating their mother and the school teacher punishing students physically. There is no respect for
human beings. . . The most affected group is children, and women. . . The basic principle of power determines one's
capacity to be violent or to face violence. . . The often observed forms of violence against women are: wife-beating,
illegal detention, torture in detention, and rape. Among these acts of violence against females rape and politically
 oriented violence is on the increase. A general prevalence of fear and harassment by a man due to lawlessness is
perhaps the most nerve-breaking element. . . This is the extreme form of violation of human rights. (Zubrzycki 2004)

Human Rights and Treaties of Pakistan.

Pakistan recently signed and accepted all major human rights treaties including the Rome Statute in the recent seminar
of Human Rights Treaties and the International Criminal Court arranged to defend and protect Human Rights in
Pakistan and it was successfully organized by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) in
collaboration with Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM Asia) and Coalition for the
International Criminal Court, Pakistan. In this seminar authorities of the Pakistan made a treaty with nearly all the
authorized NGO working in Pakistan that human rights will be protected in Pakistan at any cost and made sure that
there will be no stone unturned in order to best implement the human rights policies in Pakistan. (Time Canada, 2004)

Human Rights and Constitution of Pakistan

The constitution of Pakistan has provided all the provisions regarding the comprehensive issues of human rights in
Pakistan. The constitutions carries all the relevant issues of human rights that is child labor, women abuse, minorities,
law of blasphemy, law against tolerance. (Moffett 2004)