An Assessment of Pakistan’s Human Rights Record

Coat of Arms of Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Govt. of Pakistan

Ever since Pakistan became a sovereign state, the issue of human rights has been one of grave importance. The partition of India in the second half of 1947 saw one of the worst massacre, as thousands of individuals were slaughtered, made homeless, raped and abused in the process of migrating to the homeland of their choice. Governments on both sides of the newly drawn borders could not do much to prevent this; they were silent spectators to one of history’s most bloodyย moments.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

In 1948, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was presented in the United Nations General Assembly; Pakistan was among the 48 states that voted for the adoption of the Declaration. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights passed that year with 48 votes in favor, no votes against it and 8 abstentions. The declaration became an integral part of Pakistan’s constitutions, all three of them, and still is an integral part of the fundamental rights enshrined in, and guaranteed and safeguarded by the current constitution.

Pakistan, however has seen much ups and downs in its political arena. The Constitution, when first suspended by the first coup d’รฉtat, saw unlawful arrests, exiling of influential political figures, and unreasonable restrictions being imposed upon the citizens, as the Martial Law administrator General Ayub Khan said that he believed in “Democracy with Discipline” (there wasn’t any democracy, just the innocent civilians beingย disciplinedย along military lines). During the era of Gen. Yahya Khan, when East Pakistan, now Bangladesh was fighting for its independence and dismemberment of Pakistan, the Pakistan Army committed severe human rights violations, which may be classified as atrocities and war crimes. The army massacred many professors scientists and doctors in the East, and was accused of rape and torturing prisoners to death.

Public  flogging in Pakistan during the Zia regime
Public flogging in Pakistan during the Zia regime – Human Rights Violation?

After Prime Minister Bhutto was ousted from office in another coup d’รฉtat, and General Zia-ul-Haq took over; the country saw its worst nightmare. The Constitution was ridiculously amended and new laws were promulgated in the process of ‘Islamization’. These new laws, aimed at legitimizing Zia regime, provided the administration far-reaching powers to suppress political activities. Public floggings became a common sight, political parties, trade unions, student unions, all were banned; those who dared to question Zia’s legitimacy or actions were tortured to death. The Hudood ordinances, provided for the punishments of victims of rape, and took away the rights of inheritance of women.

After Zia’s era, the Constitution was abrogated twice by Gen Musharraf, however this did not accompany large-scale human rights violation. Musharraf’s attempts to control the judiciary backfired, and the protests eventually lead to Musharraf leaving the country, and the presidency. The situation has improved greatly since. General elections were held in Pakistan in 2008, that saw the coming of a democratic government, which introduced the Constitution 18th Amendment act 2010, which reversed many of Zia-ul-Haq’s changes, and introduced articles, to safeguard the right of education and grant the right to a fair trial.

Islamabad Police beating up a protester
Police Brutality – quite common in Pakistan

Judiciary and the Election Commission in Pakistan are now fiercely independent; this means that the right to a fair trial and right to participate in the country’s government for all Pakistanis are now secure. Much has still to be done; prisoners are still being tortured in jails, child molestation is still taking place in underdeveloped urban areas of Pakistan, according to UNICEF reports.

Sindh Police beating a protester in Karachi
More Police Brutality – you just cannot stand up against injustice

Pakistan, although has a democratic government, there are still incidents of human rights violation by the government. The Pakistani constitution, for example, guarantees the right to freedom of expression, subject to “reasonable restrictions imposed by law in order to protect the glory of Islamโ€ฆ”. This provision is being used as a tool to impose censorship on media and access to Internet. YouTube, the world’s most popular video sharing platform is not in Pakistan, just because a few videos insult Islam. This action of censorship, in my humble opinion, is violation of an individual’s freedom of speech, expression, choice and right to information as granted by the universal declaration of human rights and the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and law.

The government has also failed to protect the right of life of its citizens; many people fall victims to target killing and terrorism each day. There have been instances of the law-enforcement agencies doing just that: in June 2011 the paramilitary forces shot dead an individual in a public park accused of armed robbery.

Protesting against Human Rights Violation in Pakistan
The poster says it all – protesting against Human Rights Violation in Pakistan

The situation of human rights abuse is improving in Pakistan, ever since the democratic forces have come to run the country. Pakistan, however has still a long way to go, before it transforms itself from a security state to a welfare state, which safeguards all the rights of its citizens without any discrimination of any kind whatsoever.

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Comments

40 responses to “An Assessment of Pakistan’s Human Rights Record”

  1. Salwa Saeed Avatar
    Salwa Saeed

    That’s something you dont get to read everyday
    superb

    1. Thank you so much Salwa ๐Ÿ˜€

  2. A deep insight there Ahmer! nice work

    1. Thank you so much Hassaan ๐Ÿ˜€

  3. This is incredibly sad of how human rights are not protected or respected but with faith in this thought we will be able to bring about a change; Hats off For Ahmer

    1. Thanks Omer ๐Ÿ™‚ WE are the future of Pakistan, and WE need to make Pakistan great ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Rafay Murtaza Avatar
    Rafay Murtaza

    Good job Ahmer bhai. I believe that we should stop using abusive languages and serve our country as the heroes of Pakistan had to scarified there life to get independence ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Thank you Rafay! ๐Ÿ™‚ I’m sure we can build Pakistan just the way our founding fathers and heroes dreamed of it ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. Mustafa Hanif Avatar
    Mustafa Hanif

    Superb..

    1. Thanks Mustafa ๐Ÿ™‚

      1. Mustafa Hanif Avatar
        Mustafa Hanif

        Mustafa*

        1. I apologize; fixed the typo ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Moiz Shaikh Avatar
    Moiz Shaikh

    Well written! Keep up the hard work. ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Thank you Moiz ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. Majestic slog !! keep it up =)

    1. Thank you Saif ๐Ÿ™‚

  8. Kamran Jameel Avatar
    Kamran Jameel

    very nice article Ahmer, keep it up

    1. Thank you Kamran ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. Asifa Niaz Avatar
    Asifa Niaz

    nice work! keep it up

    1. Thank you so much Asfia ๐Ÿ™‚

  10. Bahjat Saba Avatar
    Bahjat Saba

    Good one!! The solutions of all these problems are:
    1. Education
    2. Continuity of democracy
    3. Moral and ethical values and dignity of work on our part

    And as far as ban of youtube is concerned it is really a stupid kind of act. Just block the links which have humiliated videos. Ask the people to send the related links to PTA and PTA will stop the links not the whole youtube.
    Amazing thing which I am seeing on my facebook that those people who are against the opening of youtube are sharing the links of videos of youtube. This act seems that how double faced we are.

    1. Thank you Aani ๐Ÿ™‚ I agree to your solutions ๐Ÿ™‚
      Yes there are many hypocrites around us; I remember that on the Ishq-e-Rasool day, a group attacked and ransacked a wine shop, and were drinking on the streets!

  11. Salman Qasim Avatar
    Salman Qasim

    Was a good one Ahmer ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Thank you Salman ๐Ÿ™‚

  12. Yusra Imran Avatar
    Yusra Imran

    a gr8 n worthwhile read!

    1. Thank you so much Yusra ๐Ÿ™‚

  13. Assad Saeed Avatar
    Assad Saeed

    Can you point that the state of Pakistan is the Party against Ahmaddiya sect. and as a Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted country they should not have not made such laws… Its totally against religious freedom which is the part of Universal Declaration of Human Rights… And this law judicially punishes Ahmadis for three years… If they believe and act according to their faith which they think is true… Universal Declaration of Human Rights allows every citizen to adopt any religion and name his religion and prayers… The State is not supposed to interfere in religion, Quaid-e-Azam M. A. Jinnah had also pointed out this clearly in his speech right after the independence of Pakistan… I think you have missed this important topic in your above article… You can quote reference from the Constitution of Pakistan… State of Pakistan made amendments in the constitution in 1974 and in 1984 which are totally against Universal/Basic Human Rights… And legally punishes one sect, if they believe and act according to their faith…

    1. First of all, I’d like to thank you for taking out time and reading my article and for your comment. You are absolutely correct, I apologize missing out on this important aspect; I later realized that I also missed out the genocide of the Shia sect. I’d be writing another article to incorporate these points soon. You have rightly pointed that both, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Constitution of Pakistan, both guarantee the freedom to profess and practice a religion; not just that, the Pakistani constitution also states that the State shall be responsible for the protection of places of worship of all religions. Such an act by the Pakistani government is not only discriminatory, but also abusive and offensive to Human Rights and human dignity. Jinnah had envisioned a state separate from religion; however the Pakistani constitution explicitly states that Islam will be the religion of the state. Sadly, it is quite evident, Pakistan today isn’t what Jinnah envisioned it to be.

    2. Daniya Iqbal Avatar
      Daniya Iqbal

      Holy shit! Does Pakistan really do all that! I mean, really, this is crazy!

  14. We Mostly Don’t get to read the truth or such kind of articles , We usually get such kinds of articles really less to read . A SUPERB job Ahmer.! ๐Ÿ˜€

    1. Thank you so much Sara ๐Ÿ™‚

  15. Pleasure Ahmer. ๐Ÿ™‚

  16. From Morocco greet greeting high Islamic greeting and I hope to God that sustenance of peace and security so that each and every one of you the right to security and a decent life and freedom of expression and …………..
    I regret what she saw the eyes of images ุงู„ุชุนุฏูŠุจ and I hope that for Aaraha time Tanih because the West Hecda likes to see the Muslim God appointed and peace and God’s mercy

    1. Thank you so much Abdul Karim!
      May peace and prosperity prevail all around the world and everyone may enjoy equal rights and freedoms under law ๐Ÿ™‚
      ุดูƒุฑุง ุฌุฒูŠู„ุง ุนุจุฏ ุงู„ูƒุฑูŠู…!
      ู‚ุฏ ูŠุณูˆุฏ ุงู„ุณู„ุงู… ูˆุงู„ุฑุฎุงุก ููŠ ุฌู…ูŠุน ุฃู†ุญุงุก ุงู„ุนุงู„ู… ูˆูƒู„ ุฅู†ุณุงู† ู…ู† ุงู„ุชู…ุชุน ุจุงู„ู…ุณุงูˆุงุฉ ููŠ ุงู„ุญู‚ูˆู‚ ูˆุงู„ุญุฑูŠุงุช ููŠ ุฅุทุงุฑ ุงู„ู‚ุงู†ูˆู† ๐Ÿ™‚

  17. Now this is something good to read !!

    1. Thank you so much ๐Ÿ™‚

  18. […] Ms. Abira Ashfaq, our criminal law lecturer was referring to the situation in Balochistan more particularly, and the whole country in general. Every day the newspaper headlines read “Missing persons found dead in Balochistan”, this is, quite sadly indeed, becoming the norm, just like street crimes, car lifting etc., became the so widespread and common, that after they had dominated the headlines for quite long enough, the newspapers decided they weren’t newsworthy any longer. The same is happening with Karachi’s issues of target killing on ethnic grounds and extortion. […]

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