E-BulletinApril - June 2017

News

Events

Events

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Aiwan-i-Jamhoor, 107-Tipu Block,

New Garden Town, Lahore - 54600, Pakistan

Tel: (92-42) 35838341, 35864994, Complaint Cell: (92-42) 35845969,

  0333-2006800   Fax: (92-42) 35883582

E-Mail: hrcp@hrcp-web.org Website: www.hrcp-web.org

An HRCP consultation in Karachi on June 13 discussed participation of women from religious minority communities in the political process. The deliberations highlighted various socio-cultural, economic and political factors that denied a conducive environment for the political empowerment, participation and representation of women from religious minority communities. In Hyderabad, an HRCP consultation on June 12 focused on the challenges facing vulnerable groups within Pakistan’s Hindu community and the possible steps for the protection of their rights. HRCP held a consultation in Islamabad on May 25 to deliberate upon the faith- based challenges for the members of the Kalash community. The participants suggested strategies and recommendations to safeguard the culture and rights of members of this unique community.  An HRCP consultation in Islamabad on 16 May discussed challenges to effective parliamentary representation for members of religious minority communities.HRCP launched its annual report 'State of Human Rights in 2016' in Islamabad on May 10. The publication highlighted important human rights challenges, positive developments and rights violations during the year 2016. On April 20, HRCP organised in Lahore a consultation on stratagising for better implementation of the 2014 Supreme Court judgement on the rights of the country's religious minorities. 

Established in 1986, Human Rights Commission of

Pakistan (HRCP) is a non- profit, non-governmental

organisation. HRCP aims to realize the entire body of

human rights, as defined in international instruments, by

all citizens of Pakistan, as well as all persons present in

the country.

Volunteers at the grassroots help HRCP monitor the rights

situation in almost all districts of Pakistan. HRCP closely monitors

and documents selected rights violations and crime in 60

districts across six regions of Pakistan (Balochostan, FATA,

Gilgit Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, interior Sindh and South Punjab). The objective is to put an end to the violations

and to bring the perpetrators to justice.  

HRCP held a conference on the faith-based challenges for members of the Kalash community in Islamabad on May 25, 2017.

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77 death row convicts were executed between April 1 and June 31, 2017.  Between April 1 and June 31, 2017, as many as 32 people weresentenced to death. In the previous quarter, courts had awarded death penalty to 13 persons.   According to statistics shared by the government-constituted commission of inquiry on enforced disappearances, 144 new cases were brought to the attention of the Commission from April to June 2017.   

Notable cases of human rights violations

On April 5, a man reportedly shot and killed his wife and younger brother, in Domanza Bezan Khel area, near Bannu, when he saw them together in a room. The accused fled from the scene after committing the crime. A case was registered by the uncle of the perpetrator but no arrest was made.   On April 27, a political worker of the ruling party in Gilgit-Baltistan was allegedly threatened and later beaten up on what were alleged to be directions from the district president of the party in the area of Aliabad, in Hunza. The political worker faced this situation apparently for critcising his own party for failing to fulfil its manifesto. The political worker was injured and had to be hospitalised for three days. The victim submitted a complaint in the local police station but no action was reported to be taken.   On May 13, 10 laborers were killed in Pishgan area of Gwadar when unidentified armed motorcyclists shot at them at a construction site where they were working. Eight of the workers died instantly while two succumbed to their injuries on their way to the hospital. Militant insurgent group BLA claimed responsibility for the attack.  On May 18, a journalist working with a foreign media outlet, reportedly received a call from a senior official of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), asking him to appear in person at the FIA headquarters for questioning and bring along the electronic devices he used for his work. The journalist alleged that the FIA official tried to harass and threaten him. He moved a writ petition with the Islamabad High Court and claimed that his “professional work was in the public domain which could be accessed without his presence or interrogation”. However, in a written reply, FIA’s deputy director said that he had been tasked to probe the journalist’s activities on social media and had called the journalist in that regard. He denied harassing or threatening the journalist.  On May 19, three workers working on the construction of a highway in Balochistan were gunned down by suspected separatist insurgents. The victims were going to the small town of Hoshab when the incident took place. The perpetrators managed to flee on a motorcycle. The victims belonged to the Kharipur area of Sindh province. On May 12, 26 people were killed and at least 30 injured in a suicide attack, targeting the convoy of Senate deputy chairman Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, in the town of Mastung. The incident took place shortly after Friday prayers as Haideri's convoy was exiting a seminary. He suffered minor injuries but his driver and another aide travelling in the same vehicle were killed. The attack was claimed by the so-called Islamic State group. 

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Notable cases of human rights violations

In May, four political activists were abducted from four different villages in Badin, Sindh. The families of Raza Jarwar, Ali Ahmed Bughio, Shadi Khan Soomro and Abdul Aziz Gurghaiz gave somewhat similar accounts of policemen and personnel in black or dark blue uniforms and civilian clothes taking away their relatives. In a press statement, HRCP demanded the immediate and safe recovery of the victims and a detailed probe into the actions of the perpetrators.  On June 9, a girl was allegedly shot thrice by her cousin in Nilore village, Islamabad after she refused to marry a man much older than her and left her home with a boy from the neighborhood. The two were tracked down by the family at Khanna Pul four days after they left the village and were brought back home. The girl was beaten and locked up inside her house. On the day of the incident, the girl was reading the Quran when her cousin shot her and fled. The victim’s father filed an FIR against his nephew with the police the same day. The girl remained in coma for almost one week. Although she was unable to communicate clearly even afterwards, she expressed her determination to fight this case. Prompt response from civil society and National Commission on Human Rights and National Commission on the Status of Women fueled hope that the perpetrators could be brought to justice.  On June 9, senior journalist, Rana Tanveer, was injured in Lahore when he was run over by a car apparently because of his work which included reporting on faith-related issues. The incident happened days after graffiti appeared on his main door, which read that the journalist was liable to be killed for his work. Although the matter was reported to the police, neither a case was registered, nor any demonstrable effort initiated to identify those who made the threats. In fact, the advice Mr Tanveer seemed to have got from the police was to not register a case lest that upset the perpetrators further. HRCP urged the authorities to take all possible measures to apprehend the perpetrators and warned that otherwise journalists would be forced to exercise self-censorship and the perpetrators would be emboldened further.  On June 23, at least 72 people were killed and several others injured in two consecutive blasts in Parachinar, Kurram Agency, days before Eid ul-Fitr. Initially, a blast took place at the busy Turi Market moments after an Al Quds Day rally had concluded at some distance from the place of occurrence. Militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed the bombings. A second blast, which was more powerful than the previous one and caused a greater number of casualties, targeted first responders. Families of victims staged a week-long sit-in. The sit-in ended only after the army chief visited the protesters and assured them that their demands would be met. On June 23, at least 14 people were killed, including 10 police personnel, in a suicide bombing at a police checkpoint in Quetta. A militant group called Jamaat-ur-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack.   

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Key human rights developments

In June, a petition in the Sindh High Court by representatives of civil society organisations and others challenged the prime minister’s approval of handing over the administrative control of the autonomous National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) to the federal ministry of human rights (MoHR). The

court was requested to ensure the NCHR’s independence in all respects and to declare the prime minister’s approval of a notification to that effect “illegal”. The court ordered the NCHR to continue

functioning in accordance with the relevant laws, including the National Commission for Human Rights Act 2012. In May, human rights activists had asked the government to withdraw the notification about bringing the NCHR under the control of the federal ministry of human rights. The ministry had issued a

circular on March 9, under which the prime minister approved new functions of the ministry which included administration of the NCHR. The subject was reportedly never discussed in the Cabinet.

Rights activists have criticised the notification for being in violation of NCHR Act 2012, which was supposed to provide independent commissions for monitoring the government’s way of addressing

human rights issues while also offering its own recommendations. According to reports, the action was prompted after a parliamentarian filed a complaint against a member of NCHR, stating that the member

in question had embarrassed her by contradicting her while she was discussing terrorism and Afghanistan-related issues during a trip abroad in March.  

In May, Lahore High Court restored a key provision of the Christian Divorce Act, 1869, which enabled members of the Christian community to end their marriages in a dignified manner, without having to

resort to false accusations of adultery. In 1981, General Ziaul Haq had deleted Section 7 of the 1869 lawthrough an ordinance (Federal Law and Clause Ordinance 1981) which effectively left no justifiable

ground for Christian citizens to seek divorce other than alleging adultery. The petitioner in this case was a Christian man who wanted to divorce his wife but did not wish to do that by accusing her of

adultery. In the past, many Christian men and women felt compelled to either make false claims of adultery against their spouses or denounce Christianity to in a bit to seek dissolution of their marriages. 

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In June, the first Pakistani passport with the ‘third-gender’ option was issued to Farzana Riaz, a transgender activist and president of rights organisation TransAction. The transgender community

hailed the step as a positive step for the transgender community in Pakistan and an important victory inthe struggle for the identity and rights of transgender population in Pakistan. Farzana said that her

previous passport described her gender as male, which created difficulties when she travelled abroad. 

First gender neutral passport issued

Section 7 of Christian Divorce Act restored

Battle for control of rights watchdog

Mob violence: critical questions for society and state

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Mashal, a 23-year-old student at Abdul Wali Khan University, was severely beaten on campus

by a vigilante mob apparently after rumors were spread that he had published blasphemous content online. He was later shot and killed. Dozens of students and some university employees

were booked and some arrested over their suspected role in the killing.   

A report compiled by a 13-member joint investigation team (JIT) investigating Mashal’s killing found that a group in the university had incited a mob against Mashal. The investigation found

no evidence regarding allegations of blasphemy against him. The team concluded that the killing of the mass communications student was planned in advance, by the leader of a student

group and president of the employees union at the university.

Days before his brutal murder, Mashal had spoken against activities at the university and the administration, while talking to a TV news channel. The administration kept the university

closed for more than 40 days after the killing.

The outrage over this hair-raising brutality was most pronounced perhaps because it unfolded in a place of higher learning, where free exchange of ideas is expected to be encouraged and

where students are expected to be tolerant of others’ views.

Mashal’s murder demonstrated once again how easily the name of religion and the mere charge of blasphemy, however unfounded, can be used as a tool for personal vendetta.

Mob violence against individuals over a range of reasons has unfortunately not been a rare occurrence in Pakistan. Even so, the cold-blooded murder of Mashal Khan at the hands of a mob of hundreds in Mardan district on April 13 elicited a much stronger chorus of condemnation and

outrage than that usually accompanying cases of ‘mob justice’ in the country.

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Bringing all those involved to justice in the aftermath of the barbaric murder would send an important message. However, it is important to remember that this has not been the only

murder at the hands of a mob on unfounded charge of blasphemy, and also on several other pretexts in recent years. In fact, in the last few months, the media has reported several

other cases of mob violence.

On April 21, a mob in Chitral district attacked a man with apparent mental health issues after he was accused of blasphemy inside a mosque. As worshippers started beating the

man, the mosque's imam, fearing for the man's life, handed him over to the police. The mob reached and broke into the police station soon after. Reinforcements and paramilitary

personnel had to be summoned to control the situation.

In May, an angry mob brutally beat up and killed a boy for alleged relations with a girl in Mansehra district. The boy was shot dead after being beaten with stones and sticks. The

mob allowed the police to come forward only after the boy had been killed.

These incidents are certainly a damning verdict on the state’s determination and ability to protect citizens from violence. But they also show what a blood-thirsty society we have

become. They expose the degree of brutalization of society that enables people to engage in such brutalities with abandon.

This demands a conscious and consistent effort at the society’s level to denounce such

violence and come up with ways to prevent vigilantes causing mayhem by using the name of religion or other pretexts. Overcoming mob ‘justice’ will take more than the shutting of a

university for a few weeks.