Pakistan and Human Rights - Intense Suffocation in Pakistan, Throughout 2020
By
Rabia Mehmood
January 1,
2021
We
continued to feel intense suffocation in Pakistan throughout 2020. The state of
human rights, which has consistently remained morbid for the past few years,
definitely did not improve this past year either. State repression, crackdown
on dissent, enforced disappearances, false police cases against journalists,
arbitrary detentions of rights defenders, attacks on religious minorities,
violation of labor laws and violence against women continued.
The
government was so fixated on the status of religious minorities in India,
France and other parts of Europe, that it completely failed to think of
religious minorities in Pakistan, who continued to suffer due to the existing
discrimination in law, institutions and society.
The
pandemic impacted the cases of religious minorities accused of blasphemy, as
hearings were repeatedly delayed. The anti-Ahmadi campaign intensified, leading
to killings in Peshawar; the Ahmadi community also saw their businesses shut
down, and families forced into displacement. The pandemic also meant that
at-risk individuals could only seek limited protection, since border shutdowns
and travel restrictions impacted their ability to seek asylum outside the
country.
Forced
conversions of Christian, Hindu and Sikh women and girls continued to take
place. A number of Pakistanis, both Muslim and non-Muslim, remained on death
row for blasphemy while others remained stranded in the trial period. The Shia
community faced a string of blasphemy cases around Muharram, endorsed by
clerics that were seen to be palatable to the government. The issue of
blasphemy also made it to social media trends, and threats against individuals
online; despite multiple complaints, the threatening social media posts and
comments were not taken offline.
Online
abuse hurled at women journalists, endorsed and signalled by some of the ruling
party’s social media accounts, went unchecked. Individual journalists were
targeted and overall many were subjected to filth for their work and opinion. A
hearing with the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights
acknowledged the grievance, but the abuse continued unabated.
The
government notified social media rules without due process and without
consulting civil society organisations. Among other things, the rules give
power to the PTA to block and remove content including criticism of government
officials, and posts seen as against the glory of Islam. Keeping up with the
trend of the past two years, journalists continued to be charged under the
draconian PECA in 2020 too. The government banned TikTok and other apps on the
grounds of obscenity; Tiktok was later unbanned.
Bizarrely,
the prime minister gave a number of interviews to the local and international
press, in which he reiterated that he was most targeted by the press, and
insisted that the press is fairly free in Pakistan. He also did not have an
answer about the disappearance case involving renowned journalist Matiullah
Jan.
Political
dissidents continued to face human rights violations, including short- and
long-term ‘disappearances’. The case of Idris Khattak, a senior human rights
defender from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who was said to have been disappeared – and
was later ‘found’ but not released – was still ongoing till the end of the year
2020. The PTI government had pledged to criminalise enforced disappearances in
2018, but neither civil society nor the victims’ families have seen the draft
bill, and it has not been passed yet. The country also saw the extrajudicial
murder of Hayat Baloch, a Baloch student, in Turbat.
In a
positive development, political dissidents from Gilgit-Baltistan, including
Baba Jan Hunzai, were released after years of incarceration in false cases. And
in more good news, Mehr Abdul Sattar, leader of the peasants movement for
ownership of the Okara military farms was acquitted in anti-terrorism cases and
released.
The year
also witnessed the mysterious deaths of Baloch activists living outside of
Pakistan, strengthening the climate of fear among dissidents in the country.
The PTM too continued to face challenges through the year. At the close of the
year, Ali Wazir, an MNA affiliated with the PTM, was still in jail in Karachi.
There has not been any development in the case of the 2019 extrajudicial
killing of Pashtun activist Arman Luni. Deaths and injuries due to landmine
explosions were also reported from KP. And, through the year, access to the
internet for residents of parts of KP and Balochistan remained an issue.
Heinous
incidents of rapes and sexual assault of women and children continued to take
place across Pakistan in 2020. After advocacy by CSOs, the government passed an
anti-rape legislation which would ensure speedy trial of rapes. The government
also announced the implementation of a sexual offenders registry. The
transgender community was subjected to discrimination and crime including
torture and murder. The implementation of a transgender rights bill remains an
issue; the passage of a landmark legislation in 2018 has not guaranteed their
integration in society. On the matter of marriage, in Punjab, KP and
Balochistan, the age for marriage of girls remains less than 18. Though we did
see how Sindh’s law against child marriage helped in the case of the forced
conversion of Arzoo Raja, a Christian minor from Karachi.
On the
Covid-19 front, dozens of healthcare workers lost their lives. In the
meanwhile, Balochistan police used force on medical staff protesting lack of
protective kits in Quetta. In Lahore too, young doctors went on a hunger strike
for weeks demanding PPEs. Thousands of Pakistanis lost their livelihoods to the
pandemic; however, the federal and provincial governments could neither come up
with nor enforce a consistent policy to help those who lost employment during
the year. The informal labour force suffered intensely due to this lack of
compensation, and despite demonstrations their plight remained unheard. Other
protests continued as well and in Lahore, during a farmers’ agitation, Ashfaq
Langrial of Vehari died after allegedly getting sprayed with chemicals mixed
with water.
Forced
evictions across the country due to development and infrastructure projects
displaced thousands of low-income families. The prime minister’s 2018 promise
of low-cost housing is yet to materialise.
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Rabia
Mehmood is an independent researcher and journalist whose work focuses on
social justice and human rights.
Original
Headline: Human rights in 2020
Source: The News, Pakistan
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-human-rights/pakistan-human-rights-intense-suffocation/d/123944
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