The state’s capacity to act against incidents of violence in the name of religion has declined and is almost absent in the Punjab, a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan press statement said on Saturday.
The statement was issued at the end of a two-day executive council meeting.
It noted that institutions of the state needed to abandon narrow agendas and work together.
It said that Pakistan had signed all core international treaties on human rights. “It should now be ensured that it results in improvements in the standards of human rights in the country,” the statement said.
It said that civil society organisations needed to come together to work for solving the problems faced by the country.
The statement said that the people responsible for inciting violence in the name of religion enjoyed complete impunity. Incidents of mob violence, it said, showed that the people no longer had any trust in the state’s ability to provide security.
It said that all incidents of violence must be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. It added that judicial inquiries into incidents of mob justice, target killings and violence against minorities must be made public.
It said that the extra-legal killings by the law enforcement agencies had risen. These, the HRCP demanded, should be investigated in accordance with the law. It said that the families of individuals killed in this manner should be provided with compensation.
The HRCP expressed concerns about the absence of local governments. The statement said the local bodies elections should be held at the earliest so that people could run their affairs themselves by electing their representatives at the grassroots level.
The statement raised concern about human rights violations in Balochistan. “Nowhere in the country is the human rights violated as frequently as in Balochistan,” it said.
It suggested that political measures should be undertaken to engage with the disgruntled elements in the province. It said the state’s foremost duty was to protect its citizens. Yet, it said, the number of missing persons and their mutilated bodies found on roadsides across the province had been increasing. It said the target killings of Baloch as well as non-Baolch should be condemned.
It said religious minorities were facing the most discrimination ever since the creation of the country.
It said that the reports of minorities fleeing from the country because of increasing insecurity had increased. It said that the government was yet to take serious action against people responsible for inciting violence against minorities.
It said the reforms in the tribal areas should be carried out immediately so that the people of the region could address their long-standing issues.
It said the number of suicides in the country in 2010 had risen to 2,4000. This, it said, reflected the rising level of frustration among the people. It said these trends could only be reversed if the state ensured that every citizen had access to quality education, healthcare facilities and had enough finances to afford a dignified lifestyle.
The statement said millions of people in the flood-affected areas still needed help. Yet, it said, the tragedy had mostly been forgotten by the government as well as the well-off people in the country.
It said that the state should ensure that incidents of violence against women and children were prosecuted and the culprits punished in time.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 17th, 2011.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ