Pakistan: Failing the rights test

South Aisa's other significant autocracy must not escape censure

The abuse of human rights in Pakistan is yet to be adequately addressed by the Pakistan government and by the international community. Severe restrictions continue to be placed on the freedom of religion, of expression, of assembly and of association guaranteed under international law. In addition, arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions, police torture and custodial deaths remain at unacceptably high levels.  

Religious persecution  

Sections 295-B and 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, referred to as the ‘blasphemy laws’, have effectively been implemented to target religious minorities, particularly Ahmadiyyas and Christians. The laws have violated their fundamental right to the freedom of religion enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Notable recent cases of religious persecution include the murder of Samuel Masih on 28 May 2004 by a police constable on the grounds that he had committed blasphemy.   

The Ahmadiyyas have been persecuted in Pakistan since the 1974 constitutional amendment that declared the Muslim sect to be heretical. The Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Ejaz ul Haz, himself admitted earlier in the year that there have been many abuses of the law targeting the Ahmadiyyas. A man named Iqbal Ahmed was recently charged with a fine of Rs. 10,000 and life imprisonment for remarks deemed blasphemous to Islam, which was strongly refuted by Rushid Javed, a representative of Ahmadiyya organisation Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya. This is but one example of how members of religious minorities are falsely accused and persecuted, resulting in harassment, violence and both social and economic discrimination - all of which contravene the purpose and principles of the UDHR and the international legal standards laid down in the ICCPR.  

Freedom of Expression, Assembly and Association 

The recent passing of the amendment to the Defamation Ordinance 2002 is an indication of government efforts to curtail the freedom of the media. Minister of State for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raza Hayat Harraj, in his endorsement of the bill, actually stated that defaming a person should be considered a crime no less heinous than murder.   

The harassment of the media, for example by withholding advertisements - a major source of revenue for many publications - has resulted in the closure of 12 Sindhi language newspapers in the past three years due to their discussion of controversial issues. This has been more recently followed by the closure of the Urdu-language daily newspaper Mohasib following the publication of an article dated 29 May 2004 entitled ‘The Beard and Islam.’ Instances of intimidation, harassment and violation of journalists’ rights include the murder of Sajid Tanoli in Mansehra in January 2004. Mr. Tanoli was allegedly shot by a nazim, or mayor, of the Union Council of Mansehra, Khalid Javed, for exposing him in an article on illegal liquor trafficking in the Urdu language daily Shumaal. Arbitrary arrests of journalists include those of Sarwar Mujahid in Okara in July to prevent him reporting on the growing violence faced by tenants on military farms, and the arrests of Farhat Abbas Shah and Afaq Shan, journalists from FM Radio 103 (which broadcasts programs from BBC World Service) on 10 November 2004. Further, two days after the journalists’ arrests, police raided the station, seizing equipment making it impossible for broadcasting to continue. The journalists were reportedly mistreated in the first hour of their detention.   

Custodial Deaths and the Death Penalty  

At least 30 people were reported to have died in custody in 2003. It was further reported that “in the vast majority of cases, policemen or prison staff members guilty of causing death by beating people with iron chains, dunking their heads in filthy water for prolonged periods or inflicting electric shocks, are able to escape without punishment.” Restrictions placed on human rights groups, lawyers and other citizens on visiting inmates and prisons, has reportedly led to the deterioration of prison conditions. Civil society groups have also been prevented from visiting jails.   

Eighteen executions were carried out in 2003 and 14 were carried out in the first half of 2004 with an additional 258 convicts sentenced to death.    

Impunity, Disappearances and Extrajudicial killings  

Of particular concern are the activities occurring in the South Waziristan area of Wana, whereby the ‘global war on terror’ has empowered authorities to curtail the rights of citizens. Amnesty International has reported arbitrary arrests, illegal detention, possible unlawful killings, extrajudicial executions and the deliberate demolition of houses to punish whole families suspected of having harbored people associated with the Taliban or al-Qaeda. Citizens are known to have been ‘picked up’, their whereabouts still unknown. In addition, the latest tactic of ordering civilians to form private armies to find wanted criminals falls far beyond what may be accepted as lawful practice.   

Police Torture 

A former member of the National Assembly and an official of the Human Rights Council of Pakistan, Mumtaz Ahmed Tarar, stated recently that “law protectors have become the main symbol of brutality” in Pakistan. HRCP has already reported two cases in the month of January 2005. One of the cases this year pertains to the torture of a schoolteacher, Shah Nawaz, in Toba Tek Singh district in Pakistan. The two police constables (Bahadur Ali and Muhammad Arshad) and one senior official involved have been accused not only of extracting money from the victim and his cousin, but of inflicting severe beatings upon Shah Nawaz in broad daylight at the village square, beating him further when he was taken to the police station, and then filing a trumped charge against him in order to justify their brutality. The judge and medical examiner in charge of the case confirmed approximately 15 different marks on his body as evidence of the torture inflicted upon him. The second case relating to the torture and subsequent death of Abu Bakar Singh in the Mirpurkhas district of Pakistan in January 2005 is no less shocking. In addition to marks of physical brutality, medical examiners revealed that he had been strangled with a sharp wire by police when he was in custody.  

Compliance with International Human Rights Standards  

Pakistan is yet to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) or the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CAT). While it is a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), it has yet to ratify it. Despite the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), in practice, it has had little effect on the welfare of Pakistani women. In order to bring about significant improvement in the state of human rights in Pakistan, the international community must urge Pakistan to fully undertake its obligations to uphold the human rights of its citizens. The upcoming 61^st session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights will be a good opportunity for some plain speaking.

 Human Rights Features