AKIPRESS.COM - The Human Rights Watch (HRW), a globally renowned independent monitor of rights and civil liberties, in its annual World Report 2015 released on Thursday has strongly criticised the government for neglecting the alarming situation of human rights in the country.
In the detailed country chapter of Pakistan, the HRW 2015 report has observed that Pakistan had a ‘tumultuous’ year in 2014 with the continued increase of sectarian attacks perpetrated with impunity, the displacement of 1 million people in the North, and catastrophic floods in Punjab and Sindh in 2014.
Criticising the government for its response to PTI and PAT public sit-ins in Islamabad, the Human Rights Watch censured the federal government for imposing a state of emergency in the capital, thus suspending fundamental rights of citizens including the right to petition courts to enforce constitutional guarantees.
Evaluating the political situation of the volatile country, the global monitor of human rights also criticised PAT and PTI for undertaking ‘violent opposition protests’ that HRW believes threatened to undermine gains achieved by Pakistan after the first civilian transfer of power in the country following the 2013 electoral victory of PML-N.
The protests in Islamabad led by opposition figures Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri prompted violence by both the protesters and law enforcement officials that resulted in at least three deaths and hundreds of injuries, the HRW report stated. Taking note of attacks on religious minorities, the Human Rights Watch report featured the tragic killing of a Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan by a mob in November, assassination of lawyer Rashid Rehman in Multan in May, and the attack on minorities in Gujranwala by a mob of hundreds in July last year. The government failed to provide protection to religious minorities as a result of attacks against these communities increased, the annual HRW report said. Additionally, HRW observed that the government failed to successfully prosecute and imprison those groups behind sectarian attacks in the country, with the city of Karachi resultantly being a “hotbed of sectarian violence.”
Addressing the condition of internally displaced persons, HRW has stated that the government did not ‘adequately’ respond to the health needs of displaced people and restrictions on independent media access make it difficult to objectively assess their condition. It noted that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Pakistan representative in July reported on lack of potable water, sanitation facilities, and healthcare in camps set up for displaced persons. Due to this negligence, HRW noted that this has led to widespread breakout of communicable diseases.
Referring to crimes perpetrated against women in Pakistan, the Human Rights Watch report highlights that honour killings, rape, acid attacks, and forced marriages of women remain routine parts of daily life, with an average of 1000 honour killings taking place in the country every year.
In a case which generated media hype, 25-year-old and three months pregnant woman Farzana Parveen was stoned to death outside Lahore High Court by her family members for honour. The HRW believes that perpetrators of these killings often enjoy impunity because the police routinely drop such cases, and intimidation and threats face women who chose to go public in the country.
Meanwhile, at least 1,000 girls belonging to Pakistan’s Hindu and Christian communities are forced into marriage every year through abduction. The government has failed to act against forced marriages, the HRW report 2015 noted with concern.
Accountability of law enforcement agencies also showed no signs of improving in 2014, the HRW report observed, and taking note of the Model Town tragedy in which at least eight PAT members were killed and 80 injured, it noted that the police fired without warning and used ‘excessive’ force.
Freedom of expression and media came under pressure in 2014, stated the HRW report, with attacks on senior journalists Hamid Mir, Raza Rumi, and death threats to journalist Omar Quraishi, and columnist Kamran Shafi last year.