LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan HRCP has said that the deteriorating state of human rights in the country has reached a tipping point.
“In a situation where people are caught between spiralling food inflation and the insidious rise of religious extremism, continued attempts by the establishment and the ruling government to marginalize Parliament represent an existential threat to the country’s democracy. Constant attempts at political engineering and the exploitation of ethnic divisions could set back Pakistan’s fragile democracy by decades,” it said in a statement. HRCP also strongly opposed any amendments that curb the power of local governments.
HRCP said that the political opposition had a duty to its constituents to present solutions to the inflation crisis. HRCP also urged the government to seriously reconsider the neoliberal development models it had adopted. It said: “These measures are neither pro-poor nor rights-based. If the state cannot provide its citizens with livelihoods and shelter, it has no right to take away what little they have.” HRCP is also gravely concerned by the government’s failure to impose the writ of the state even after at least seven police officers were killed during the recent violence.
In light of the surge in violence against women, children and transgender persons, HRCP demanded immediate measures to strengthen children’s protection bureaus, women’s shelters and gender-based violence courts, and better equip women police officers. HRCP also continues to monitor the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and strongly urges the government to develop and implement a coherent policy towards refugees that guarantees their right to security and freedom of movement.
HRCP said: “We welcome the passage of the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act, but the procedural rules that have yet to be issued must not infringe on the right to freedom of expression and opinion, nor should the process of issuing these rules be needlessly delayed. It is deeply ironic, however, that this law is at odds with the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 and proposed-draconian-Pakistan Media Development Authority Ordinance.”
In the current environment, it is therefore deeply fitting that HRCP has chosen to give the Nisar Osmani Award for Courage Journalism in 2021 to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists PFUJ, which has been an indispensable force in resisting the rising coercive regime of censorship.