Following a six-day visit to Oman in September, the UN Special Rapporteur on the PAKISTAN rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association stated that limits on peaceful Islamic Republic of Pakistan assembly in Oman were “quite restrictive, to Head of state: Mamnoon Hussain the point where they often annul the essence Head of government: Muhammad Nawaz Sharif of the right”.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS In December, the Pakistani Taliban-led Women were not accorded equal rights with attack on the Army Public School in men under the criminal law, which attached Peshawar resulted in 149 deaths, including less weight to the evidence of a woman than 132 children, marking the deadliest terrorist to the evidence of a man, and under personal attack in Pakistan’s history. In response, status law, which accorded men greater the government lifted the moratorium on rights in relation to divorce, child custody and carrying out death sentences and swiftly inheritance. executed seven men previously convicted for other terror-related offences. The Prime MIGRANT WORKERS’ RIGHTS Minister announced plans for allowing Migrant workers received inadequate military courts to try terror suspects as protection under labour laws and faced part of the government’s National Action exploitation and abuse. In May and Plan against terrorism, adding to concerns November,, the government renewed over fair trials. In October education for a further six months a bar on the rights activist Malala Yousafzai jointly won entry of most foreign migrant workers for the Nobel Peace Prize in October along construction and other work sectors. In July, with Indian child rights activist Kailash a new decree amended the labour law to Satyarthi. The National Assembly approved prevent the employment of expatriates in the Protection of Pakistan Act in July professions reserved for Omani nationals. The and other security laws during the year government also stated that it would begin to that enshrined sweeping powers for law strictly enforce a rule barring migrant workers enforcement and security forces, expanding who leave Oman from returning for two the scope for arbitrary arrests, indefinite years, which was reported to facilitate labour detention, the use of lethal force, and exploitation. secret court proceedings which go well beyond international law enforcement and DEATH PENALTY fair trial standards. Pakistan’s media faced Oman retained the death penalty for murder sustained harassment and other abuse, and and other offences. In June, the State the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Council approved proposals to extend its use Authority briefly ordered the closure of the to drug trafficking offences. No executions two largest private broadcasters because of were reported. content critical of the authorities. Religious minorities continued to face discrimination and persecution, especially due to the blasphemy laws.

BACKGROUND Hearings in the treason trial of former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf continued to be delayed, creating tensions between the

Amnesty International Report 2014/15 281 democratically elected government of Prime city of Peshawar, where 149 people were Minister Nawaz Sharif and the powerful killed, 132 of them children, and dozens military. The government and opposition injured in shootings and suicide bombings. political parties failed to secure a peace deal The Pakistani Taliban said the attack was in with the Pakistani Taliban, culminating in response to recent Pakistan Army operations the latter carrying out an attack on Karachi in nearby North Waziristan in which hundreds International Airport that claimed at least 34 of Taliban fighters had been killed. lives, mostly of security forces and Taliban Various factions of the Pakistani Taliban fighters. That attack and continued pressure continued to carry out attacks, including from the USA resulted in the Pakistan Army against activists and journalists for promoting launching a major military operation against education and other rights, or for criticizing Taliban and al-Qa’ida sanctuaries in North them. Ahrar ul Hind, a breakaway group from Waziristan tribal agency in June, which was the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility continuing as of the end of 2014. for the 3 March gun and suicide bomb attack Following their claims of rigging in the on a court house in Islamabad that left 11 2013 general elections, and disaffection dead and several others injured, reportedly in with independent inquiries into these claims, response to the Pakistani Taliban’s decision to demonstrators led by the opposition politician enter peace talks with the government. Jamat Imran Khan and the religious cleric Tahir ul ul Ahrar, another breakaway group from Qadri held protests across the country calling the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility on the government of Nawaz Sharif to step for the 2 November suicide bomb attack down and for fresh elections. After the killing following the daily flag lowering parade at of 12 political activists by police in Lahore’s the Wagah Border Post between Pakistan Model Town neighbourhood on 17 June, the and India, which left 61 dead and more than protests became increasingly confrontational, 100 injured. peaking in August and September. Health workers involved in polio and other Demonstrators briefly stormed the National vaccination campaigns were killed in various Assembly and threatened to occupy the parts of the country. Killings were particularly Prime Minister’s official residence, creating prevalent in parts of the northwest and the a crisis that risked forcing the collapse of the city of Karachi, areas with an active presence government, until the military publicly backed of Taliban and aligned groups which oppose the Prime Minister. vaccinations. Ethnic Baloch armed groups For the fourth year in a row major calling for a separate state of Balochistan floods across Pakistan displaced were implicated in the killing and abduction hundreds of thousands, creating a major of security forces and others on the basis of humanitarian crisis. their ethnic or political affiliations, and carried Attempts by the government to improve out attacks on infrastructure. The anti-Shi’a relations with India early in the year stalled armed group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed as the armed forces of the two countries responsibility for a series of assassinations engaged in regular clashes across the Line of and other attacks on the Shi’a Muslim Control across Jammu and Kashmir. population, particularly in the province of Balochistan and the cities of Karachi and ABUSES BY ARMED GROUPS Lahore. Rival armed groups frequently Armed groups were implicated in human clashed, resulting in scores of fatalities. rights abuses across the country. On 16 December, several men claimed by the ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES Pakistani Taliban as its members attacked Despite clear rulings by the Supreme Court the Army Public School in the northwestern to the government in 2013 demanding

282 Amnesty International Report 2014/15 the recovery of victims of enforced US drone strikes on Pakistan’s tribal areas. disappearances, the authorities did little He was released nine days later following to meet its obligations under international pressure from local and international rights law and the Constitution to prevent these groups and foreign governments. He claimed violations. The practices of state security that he had been subjected to torture and forces, including actions within the scope repeatedly questioned about his activism of laws such as the Protection of Pakistan and his investigation of drone strikes. Act, resulted in men and boys being The authorities failed to investigate the subjected to enforced disappearance across incident adequately and did not bring those Pakistan and particularly in the provinces responsible to justice. of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Human rights groups criticized a judicial Sindh. Several victims were later found dead, inquiry into mass graves discovered in Totak bearing what appeared to be bullet wounds Balochistan on 25 January for failing to and torture marks. The government did not investigate state security forces adequately. implement Supreme Court orders calling Baloch activists claimed that the graves for security forces responsible for enforced belonged to ethnic Baloch activists who had disappearances to be brought to justice. been subjected to enforced disappearance.2 Zahid Baloch, Chairman of the Baloch Student Organisation-Azad, was abducted in INTERNAL ARMED CONFLICT Quetta, Balochistan, on 18 March. Witnesses Parts of FATA in northwestern Pakistan claimed he was taken at gunpoint in the continued to be affected by internal armed city’s Satellite Town area by personnel of the conflict, facing regular attacks by the Taliban Frontier Corps, a federal security force. The and other armed groups, the Pakistan armed authorities denied knowledge of his arrest and forces, and US drone aircraft that claimed failed to investigate his fate or whereabouts hundreds of lives. In June the Pakistan or to investigate the abduction adequately. Army launched a major military operation No new information was known at the end of in North Waziristan tribal agency, and the year.1 carried out sporadic operations in Khyber The bodies of men and boys arbitrarily tribal agency and other parts of FATA. detained by the Pakistan armed forces in Affected communities routinely complained Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the of the disproportionate use of force and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) indiscriminate attacks by all sides to the continued to be recovered months or years conflict, especially the Pakistan armed later, while the authorities generally failed to forces. The fighting displaced over a million abide by Peshawar High Court orders either residents, most of whom were forced to to release those suspected of terrorism or flee to the district of Bannu in neighbouring charge them promptly and bring them to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during the trial. Detainees continued to have limited hottest period of the year. US drone strikes access to families and lawyers. There were continued sporadically from 11 June onwards some rare instances of activists subjected after a hiatus of nearly six months, reigniting to enforced disappearance being returned concerns of unlawful killings. On 5 June the alive. On 5 February, Kareem Khan, an anti- Islamabad High Court ordered the arrest of a drone activist and a relative of victims, was former CIA station chief for Pakistan over his abducted by up to 20 armed men, some in alleged responsibility for unlawful killings due police uniforms, from his home in the garrison to pilotless drone aircraft in the tribal areas. city of Rawalpindi, days before he was due On 12 September, security forces announced to travel to Europe to give testimony before the arrest in North Waziristan of 10 men the European Parliament on the impact of allegedly involved in the 2012 assassination

Amnesty International Report 2014/15 283 attempt on education rights activist Malala Quetta and other parts of Balochistan; the Yousafzai. Questions remained as to how they armed group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed were arrested, their treatment in detention responsibility for many of these, saying and whether they would receive a fair trial. they were because the Hazaras were Shi’a Muslims. Members of the Sikh religious FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION community staged several protests throughout - JOURNALISTS the year against killings, abductions and At least eight journalists were killed across attacks on their places of worship in different Pakistan during the year in direct response to parts of the country. They complained that their work, marking the country out as one of the authorities consistently failed to provide the most dangerous in the world for the media adequate protection from such attacks or profession.3 High-profile television anchor bring those responsible to justice. Hamid Mir claimed that the Directorate for The blasphemy laws remained in force, in Inter-Services Intelligence, the most powerful violation of the rights to freedom of thought, intelligence service, was responsible for conscience and religion and freedom of an attempt on his life which he narrowly opinion and expression. Abuse connected escaped in Karachi on 19 April. Following with the blasphemy laws occurred regularly the claims, which were broadcast nationally during the year as demonstrated in several by Hamid Mir’s television station Geo TV, the high-profile cases. Renowned human rights broadcaster was formally suspended for 15 lawyer Rashid Rehman was shot dead in days on 6 June. Several journalists associated front of colleagues in his office in the city of with the outlet received daily threats and Multan, Punjab province, on 7 May. Prior harassment by unidentified individuals to his killing, Rashid Rehman had received by phone and in person. Many refused to regular death threats because of his legal enter their offices or identify themselves as representation of a university teacher, Junaid belonging to Geo TV or associated media for Hafeez, who had been arrested on charges fear of being attacked. of blasphemy. On 18 September Professor On 20 October, Geo TV’s main rival, ARY Muhammad Shakil Auj, a noted religious News, was also suspended after the Lahore scholar and dean of Islamic Studies at High Court held that the broadcaster and Karachi University, was gunned down by some of its journalists had been in contempt unidentified assailants while travelling to a of court for airing the views of an individual meeting. He had faced death threats and facing trial before the court. charges of blasphemy from rival religious In March, the Prime Minister promised scholars in the months prior to his killing. to appoint special public prosecutors to A mob burned down the homes of a small investigate attacks on journalists, and he Ahmadiyya community in Punjab province on personally visited Hamid Mir in hospital after the evening of 27 July, after a resident was the attempt on his life. No one had been accused of blasphemy - two children and brought to justice for this attempted killing or their grandmother died of smoke inhalation any other attack on journalists at the end of and several others were seriously injured. On the year.4 16 October the appeal bench of the Lahore High Court rejected an application by a DISCRIMINATION - RELIGIOUS Christian woman, Asia Bibi, to have her 2010 MINORITIES death sentence for blasphemy overturned.5 Religious minorities continued to face In March, a Christian road sweeper, Savan laws and practices that resulted in their Masih, was sentenced to death for blasphemy discrimination and persecution. Dozens after a friend accused him of making of ethnic Hazaras were killed in attacks in blasphemous remarks during an argument.

284 Amnesty International Report 2014/15 The accusations provoked a two-day riot trying terror suspects, as part of its National in his neighbourhood in Lahore, known as Action Plan against terrorism. Joseph Colony, when a 3,000-strong mob People continued to be sentenced to burned around 200 homes of Christians. death. Shoaib Sarwar, a death row prisoner Police were warned of the impending attack convicted of murder in 1998, was ordered to but failed to take adequate measures to be executed in September after exhausting protect the community. all his appeals. However, the execution was postponed several times by the authorities VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS under pressure from anti-death penalty A handful of high-profile so-called “honour” campaigners at home and abroad.6 killing cases highlighted the risks to women from their own families for seeking to marry partners of their choice. On 27 May, Farzana 1. Pakistan:Abducted political activist at risk of death (ASA Parveen was shot and beaten to death with 33/008/2014) a brick by members of her family, including www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA33/008/2014/en her father and her ex-husband, outside the 2. Pakistan:Mass graves a stark reminder of violations implicating the entrance to the Lahore High Court, after she state in Balochistan(ASA 33/001/2014) had fled and married a man of her choosing. www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA33/001/2014/en Several of her male relatives were arrested for 3. “A bullethas been chosen for you”: Attacks on journalists in Pakistan the killing, as, separately, was her husband, (ASA 33/005/2014) Mohammad Iqbal, after he admitted to www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA33/005/2014/en killing his first wife in order to be with 4. Pakistan:Open letter to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif: Joint Farzana Parveen. statement of sharedconcerns about attacks on journalists in Pakistan Women also risked abuse while seeking (ASA 33/010/2014) to exercise their rights. For example, in www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA33/010/2014/en September a jirga (traditional decision-making 5. Pakistan:Woman sentenced to death for blasphemy - Asia Bibi (ASA body) of male Uthmanzai tribal chiefs from 33/015/2014) North Waziristan tribal agency threatened www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA33/015/2014/en women with violence for seeking access 6. Pakistan:Stop first civilian execution in six years (Press release) to humanitarian assistance in displaced www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/pakistan-stop-first- persons camps in Bannu district of Khyber civilian-execution-six-years-2014-09-15 Pakhtunkhwa province, where the vast majority of people fleeing the conflict in the tribal agency were based. DEATH PENALTY PALESTINE The attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on 16 December led to a (STATE OF) resumption of executions after the six-year moratorium was lifted by Prime Minister State of Palestine Sharif. He announced plans for the execution Head of state: Mahmoud Abbas of 500 people convicted for other terrorism- Head of government: Rami Hamdallah related offences. Seven men convicted previously were hanged in December in a swift series of executions, after President Authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Hussain summarily rejected their appeals. restricted freedoms of expression and The government also announced plans for peaceful assembly, carried out arbitrary early 2015 for the use of military courts in arrests and detentions, and tortured

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