IHRO report on G-B: Around 3,000 fell victim to sectarian violence since 1988

Human rights violations linked to poor law and order.

GILGIT:

A report of the International Human Rights Observer’s (IHRO’s) Gilgit-Baltistan chapter has enlisted the poor law and order situation as the main reason for human rights violations in the region.

“According to a rough estimate, around 3,000 people have been killed in sectarian violence since 1988,” says the report that was released recently.

On the loss of lives and its impact, it states that about 900 women have been widowed and nearly 2,500 children orphaned. “The loss to property is inestimable.”

The study adds that despite allocation of massive funds for security, the situation could not be controlled and loss of human lives continued even in the presence of police and law-enforcing agencies. The violence didn’t even  spare the officials of the law enforcement agencies, as an IGP, a judge and two serving DSPs also fell victim to the scourge of sectarianism.



Last year’s attacks on passenger buses on highways in which several people were killed have also been highlighted in the study.

It further states that “certain religious outfits have hoisted their flags on government properties, while
hate speeches are also being made openly”. “The law enforcing agencies have become puppets in the hands of sectarian organisations. Instead of removing flags and putting ban on speeches, such organisations are being provided protocols in the name of security,” the report added.



Among other violations of human rights, the watchdog agency said that the quality of education and health facilities in government dispensations are abysmally low.

“Not a single well-equipped hospital is there in the whole region inhabited by nearly 1.8 million people.”

About the pathetic condition of power supply, the report says that electricity is being provided to consumers for just four out of 24 hours. “The situation has caused inestimable loss to students, patients, small industries and traders.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2013.