The State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 2011 AHRC-SPR-008-2011 PAKISTAN: The State of Human Rights in 2011 Summary The year 2011 was started with the killings of hundreds of persons including the killings of high profile personalities, the governor of a province and a federal minister of minority affairs, by the extremist religious groups who seeped in to the law enforcement agencies. The arrest of one Christian lady, Aasia Bibi, on Blasphemy's baseless charges from some mosque leaders leads to the religious intolerance and fanaticism at its highest peak. The state played a dubious role to appease the religious extremism. state remained as silent spectator in the country and killings of Mr. Salman Taseer, former governor of Punjab province and former federal minister of minority affairs, a Christian minister in cabinet. The government's ineptness to stop the religious and sectarian intolerance has strengthened the banned militant religious groups to organize and collect their funds in the streets and hold big rallies. This ineptness of the government has helped the forced conversion to Islam of girls from religious minority groups. In total thorough out the country during the year 1800 women from Hindu and Christian groups were forced to convert to Islam by different methods particularly though abduction and rape. During the year, only in Karachi, capital of Sindh, 1800 persons were killed and political parties from ruling coalition were involved in ethnic target killings. The minister of interior says that during two years 3938 people were killed in Karachi city. In Balochistan during the year disappearances by the plain clothe persons were continued and more than 100 persons were disappeared. Around 100 missing persons were extra judicially killed and the family members of the victims claim that these persons were abducted by law enforcement agencies. Around 1600 persons committed suicides from January to September according to the data collected by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. The government had extended his appeasement policy towards the fundamentalists and helped them to unleash on the forces of tolerance and enlightened which in result made the Muslim extremists as the ''Heroes of Islam''. The government's actions have polarized the society on religion basis which is harming the democratic process. The state has become dysfunctional in providing basic human rights to the people. Though the parliament exists it either cannot assert its constitutional duties or does not want to assert itself in the presence of the powerful military which is dominating both internal and external affairs. The parliament has not been allowed to implement the financial, external and judicial matters which are still beyond the access of elected representatives of the people. This is despite the fact that this power was supposed to have been handed over after eleven years of military rule. It is dysfunctional in the sense that it has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and The State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 2011 Page | 1 The State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 2011 AHRC-SPR-008-2011 the Convention against Torture (CAT) but then immediately revealed reservations on many of their articles making their ratification harmless to the state. Then, when the cabinet decided to withdraw some of reservations the government has conspicuously not implemented its own decision. The government of Pakistan has dodged not only UN but also the European Union who pursued the government to withdraw all the reservations on the many articles of the ICCPR and the CAT. The European Union had conveyed that these reservations had made Pakistan ineligible for the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Plus status to be accorded in 2014 by the European Union. To settle the issue, the Prime Minister chaired an Inter-Ministerial Meeting, the cabinet, at the end of June 2011, in which it was decided to withdraw the reservations on Articles 6, 7, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 40 of ICCPR. The reservation on Article 3 was narrowed down to Personal Law and Law of Evidence, and the reservation on Article 25 was restricted to the election of the President of Pakistan. On the CAT it was decided to withdraw reservations on Articles 3, 4, 6, 12, 13 and 16. The reservation on Article 8 was retained. The declarations on Article 20 as provided in Article 28 (1) and Article 30 (1) were also retained. This eye wash effort, to make fools of the international community, was done by the government to avail itself of multiple trade concessions, privileges and enhanced trade activities with the European Union. However, its past record of dealing with pledges before the UN Human Rights Commission is not good and it is yet to be seen if the government will actually withdraw the reservations on the ICCPR and CAT in deed as well as in writing. Before her election to the UN HRC the government of Pakistan pledged that it would change the laws of the country according to the different covenants and conventions of the UN and abide by the international norms. But none of these pledges have been complied with. Pakistani society and the government remain under the strong hold of the military which does not allow them to interfere in the affairs of the armed forces. Pakistan remains a highly militarized society where economic, political, foreign affairs and judicial policies are dictated by the military. The laws for the benefits of women, religious minorities and against the torture and enforced disappearances cannot be made without the prior to approval from the military. The parliament has been made redundant and the decisions of the parliament are occasionally reverted through the judiciary on the behest of the military. The government has also pledged several times to the international community that it will stop the discrimination against religious minorities and women. However, it is quite evident that, not only has the government done nothing in these matters, but that discrimination has increased in comparison with the previous military government. The State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 2011 Page | 2 The State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 2011 AHRC-SPR-008-2011 One of the most glaring problems in the country is that the government has failed to reign in the religious militancy by the banned Islamic groups who are openly teaching their militant messages and collecting funds from the street in full view of the police stations. The forced conversion of Hindus and Christians to Islam through the abduction of girls and rape and forcibly signing of the marriage certificates, an official government document, in captivity and under duress has been rampant. Around 2000 girls from minority groups were forced to convert to Islam according to the different Christian and Hindu organizations. This is also confirmed by the boasting of the heads of the different Muslim seminaries (Madressas) who express pride in their forcible conversion. Nearly 161 persons were laid with blasphemy charges in the country this year so far. Nine of them were extrajudicially murdered. Murders in the name of Karokari, (killings in the name of honour), are reported daily. Target killings in Karachi and different parts of Balochistan are on the rise. Sectarian killings have been continuing, even without any consideration of Eid days or Ramadan (Islamic festivals). Rather than make any attempt to control the religious extremists the government is following a policy of appeasement with the religious militants and banned groups to avoid open confrontation with them. This policy has cost them one governor, a federal minister and ordinary citizens who oppose the extremist Islamist thoughts, intolerance and terrorism. The government has not made any progress in the draconian Blasphemy law which has taken many lives including the high profile personalities of the government but, instead, authorities are covertly patronizing the militant groups. The courts, which claim to be independent after 2007, have proved themselves to be friends of the militants and the terrorists. In many cases the terrorists were released by the courts, especially from the higher courts on the plea that the prosecution has not made its case properly but no reforms were suggested to the prosecution. The high profile terrorists, who openly boast of having killed hundreds of people, were released by the courts. The government has not introduced any reforms in the judicial criminal justice system. The present criminal justice system is generally based on torture, ill treatment and corruption which always provide impunity to the perpetrators. In addition the Shariah laws are thought to be the best way to get impunity. The two laws are running parallel to each other, the Islamic and secular. The rule of law has deteriorated because of two laws systems. The investigation system remains the main cause of torture and ill-treatment and illegal detention. Still the torture is treated as the best way for the investigation system. Every year thousands of people are tortured in custody at either the police or army's illegal detention centers. Every police station in the country is running private torture centers besides the police stations themselves or conducting torture in private houses. The The State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 2011 Page | 3 The State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 2011 AHRC-SPR-008-2011 military, navy, Air force and Para-military forces are all running torture cells. They not only torture the opponents but also using torture cells to settle their petty issues. A new phenomenon has been introduced during the civilian government that torture is exhibited in open places by the police and military, even to the point that they take videos and make them public in their notorious design of scaring the population at large about their strength of power.