Year under review: HRCP reports rise in women in politics

Highlights faith based assaults on minorities

LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) released its annual ‘State of Human Rights in 2014’ report on Friday.

According to the report the year opened with a series of faith-based assaults on religious minorities and came to a close with the massacre of young students in Peshawar which resulted in the highest death toll from a terrorist attack in the nation’s history.

The horrific incident has, however, created a consensus against bands of extremist elements working under the banner of religious organisations.



The year under review threw up the occasional ray of hope with an increase in women’s active participation in political parties, passing of a law against child marriage and an increase in minimum wage.

According to the report parliament enacted 10 laws, less than half the previous year’s 22. Nine presidential ordinances were promulgated and the highest number of provincial acts and ordinances emerged from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, followed by Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan.

The Hindu Marriage Bill and the Christian Divorce Bill, which were tabled in parliament in 2011, remain pending. No progress was made on the Domestic Violence Bill either.

In 2014, 1.793 million cases were pending in courts across the country. The gap between the laws and their implementation caused crime rates and low conviction rates to grow, especially in relation to crimes against minorities and vulnerable sections of society.

According to HRCP research, of the 37 cases registered during the year for offences relating to religion, seven of the cases were registered under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code that carries a mandatory sentence of death.

Furthermore, according to the report, no efforts were seen to institute judicial and legal reforms. And the legislature seemed inclined to promulgate laws that sought to promote state security at the expense of citizens’ rights and liberties.

The report also contains statistics regarding law and order; jails, prisoners and disappearances; freedom of thought, conscience and religion and will be available on the HRCP website shortly.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2015.