Follow Us on Google News
LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed serious reservations concerning freedom of expression in 2021.
In its flagship annual “State of Human Rights in 2021′ report, the HRCP said in at least nine cases, journalists were intimidated or silenced altogether, whether in the form of assault, enforced disappearance, murder or overt censorship.
It said the previous government will be remembered for attempting to impose the draconian Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) Ordinance on the press. “With this fundamental right in peril, all other rights too were increasingly constricted,” it said.
“The state’s attempts to expand the scope of restrictions on freedom of expression under Article 19 of the Constitution have emboldened non-state actors to impose their whims—often violently—on those who do not agree with them.”
“The savage murders of a Sri Lankan factory manager in Sialkot by a lynch mob on allegations of blasphemy, and of human rights defender Nazim Jokhio allegedly by PPP lawmakers, are both cases in point,” it added.
The report observed that the near-absence of political consensus-building was reflected in the number of presidential ordinances issued by the previous federal government – a record 32 issued in 2021.
It reminded that as of December 2021, the long-awaited bill aimed at criminalising enforced disappearance as an offence had still not been passed. The highest number of enforced disappearances reported to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances in 2021 was in Balochistan at 1,108.
The report also raises grave concerns on the escalating religiosity and implications for women and religious minorities. It said this was evident from the Council of Islamic Ideology’s objections to the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Bill 2020 and Prohibition of Forced Conversions Bill 2021.
“Yet, with 5,279 rapes and 478 honour killings registered in the country and the macabre murder of Noor Mukaddam in Islamabad, women’s rights activists rightly spoke of a ‘femicide emergency’ in Pakistan in 2021,” the report said.
The plight of workers and peasants deteriorated significantly as companies downsized in 20211 and with a mere Rs 2,000 increase in the minimum wage in Punjab and the Supreme Court’s decision to stay the Sindh government’s move to increase the wage to Rs 25,000.
While the previous government claimed that the Single National Curriculum would reduce educational disparities, it drew strong criticism from education experts and human rights defenders for its lack of inclusivity.
There was a marked fall in the number of death sentences awarded, from at least 177 persons in 2020 to 125 in 2021. No executions were reported to have been carried out, while in a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court commuted the sentences of three mentally disabled prisoners on death row.
The HRCP said the incumbent government must commit to protecting freedom of expression and the rights of all vulnerable and excluded groups. It also called for the state to uphold law and order in the face of increasing militancy.
“At the same time, it must not make the mistake of acquiescing to far-right groups such as the TLP, which had no qualms about resorting to violence to further its ends in 2021, or of ignoring citizens’ voices,” it added.