{"id":8160,"date":"2024-05-08T19:33:39","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T19:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=8160"},"modified":"2024-05-08T19:33:39","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T19:33:39","slug":"human-rights-body-calls-2023-a-dismal-year-for-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=8160","title":{"rendered":"Human rights body calls 2023 a dismal year for Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\nISLAMABAD \u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Human rights in Pakistan took a nosedive and civic spaces contracted to an extraordinary degree in 2023 in the wake of violent political protests, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a new report reviewing the past year. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis year was remarkable for the State\u2019s blatant disregard for its own Constitution, adherence to a bare, notional democracy, and civic spaces having shrunk to an all-time low,\u201d said the report released Wednesday. <\/p>\n
The document covers a wide range of human rights issues that weakened Pakistani democracy last year, from unelected caretaker governments exceeding their constitutionally mandated term to the parliament hastily passing laws including those granting more powers to security agencies. <\/p>\n
Political repression<\/strong> <\/p>\n
The commission said the human rights situation reached a new low on May 9, 2023, \u201ca defining day\u201d on which supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan stormed military and government installations to protest his arrest. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe state retaliated with a fierce crackdown and mass arrests of thousands of party workers and leaders, including women,\u201d the report said. \u201cMany [were] kept in military custody, not allowed to meet their families. Internet and social media shutdowns were imposed.\u201d <\/p>\n
The report recorded at least 15 instances of internet services being shut down in the last year. Following the violence on May 9, government suspended internet services for nearly four days across much of Pakistan. <\/p>\n
The HRCP said the authorities repeatedly banned gatherings of more than four people in a bid to restrict political activities. <\/p>\n
Missing persons<\/strong> <\/p>\n
According to HRCP\u2019s monitoring of media reports, 82 men and seven women were forcibly disappeared during 2023. The report said some of the disappearances were short-term, targeting political party members. <\/p>\n
Referring to data provided by the government\u2019s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, HRCP said nearly 2,300 cases of missing persons remained unresolved at the end of last year. <\/p>\n
A weekslong protest movement led by Baloch women seeking recovery of missing family members returned empty-handed from Islamabad after talks with caretaker government officials stalled. The protesters were brutally dispersed upon arrival in the capital. <\/p>\n
\u201cBaloch women were not even given the dignity of a conversation,\u201d said Munizae Jahangir, co-chairperson of the HRCP. <\/p>\n
Holding security agencies responsible for enforced disappearances, the commission\u2019s chairperson, Asad Iqbal Butt, said the acts violated an array of civil rights. <\/p>\n
The security agencies \u201cthink they are friends of Pakistan, but whenever I have a meeting with them, I tell them, \u2018You are not a friend of Pakistan. You are engaging in animosity with Pakistan,\u2019\u201d Butt said. <\/p>\n
He urged the courts to ask recovered victims of enforced disappearances to identify the agencies that detained them. <\/p>\n
\u201cUnless those who pick people up are not brought to justice, unless they are punished, this problem cannot be resolved,\u201d Butt said, adding that the issue of enforced disappearances was hurting the public\u2019s trust in state institutions. <\/p>\n
Military\u2019s response<\/strong> <\/p>\n
In a rare press conference a day earlier, military spokesperson Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry defended the crackdown on the Pakistan Tareek-e-Insaf Party, or PTI. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf, in any country, an attack is launched on its army, symbols of its martyrs are insulted, its founder\u2019s house is set on fire, hatred is created between its army and public. And if the people behind it are not brought to justice, then there is a question mark on that country\u2019s justice system,\u201d Chaudhry told the media. <\/p>\n
The chief of Inter-Services Public Relations, Chaudhry supported PTI\u2019s demand for a judicial commission to probe the events of May 9. However, he said the commission should investigate the party\u2019s past attacks on government properties as well. <\/p>\n
Calling PTI a group of miscreants, the military spokesperson demanded the party \u201capologize publicly.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\n
\n
\n\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\nFILE – Police fire tear gas shells towards Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party activists and supporters of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan during a protest against the arrest of their leader, in Karachi, May 9, 2023.<\/span> \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Speaking to reporters in court on Wednesday, Khan said he would not apologize. <\/p>\n
\u201cI should be apologized to, as I have been arrested illegally,\u201d said Khan, who has been in jail since Aug. 5, 2023, on multiple corruption charges that he has denied. <\/p>\n
While speaking to the media on Tuesday, Chaudhry said it was unfair to blame enforced disappearances on law enforcement agencies, since some allegedly missing persons are found to be involved in terrorism and other illegal activities or are in private jails run by local militias. <\/p>\n
He said the issue was serious and complex but rejected the debate surrounding it as propaganda by \u201ccertain political elements, media elements, NGOs and some with links overseas.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cHere [in Pakistan] there is exaggerated propaganda on this issue,\u201d Chaudhry said, arguing that the scope of the problem in Pakistan was smaller than in many other countries. <\/p>\n
Butt on Wednesday dismissed Chaudhry\u2019s assertions as \u201cfoolish,\u201d saying men in uniform were seen abducting people. <\/p>\n
Jahangir called for stronger legislation to determine the mandate of security agencies. She urged the government to ratify the United Nations\u2019 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/gdb.voanews.com\/01000000-0aff-0242-1fa5-08db50b4f5c3_cx0_cy5_cw100_w250_r1_s.jpg\"\/)
\n<\/div>\n