Shielding the weak: High-powered rights panel to start functioning

Commission to review acts of terrorism that inhibit enjoyment of human rights.

ISLAMABAD: All is set for the national institution of human rights to start its maiden functioning in the country. It took the government nearly two-and-a-half years to take all the necessary measures.

A parliamentary panel on Friday sent its nominations to President Mamnoon Hussain, who will now appoint the chairman and members of a National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), which was formed through a Parliamentary Act in 2012.

Once the president endorses the confirmed nominations, the NCHR will start functioning for the first time in the country.

The commission, whose chairman and members will be appointed for four years, could review the factors including acts of terrorism that inhibit the enjoyment of human rights and recommend appropriate remedial measures, says the NCHR Act 2012.

The high-powered commission, to be headed by Justice (retd) Ali Nawaz Chowhan, could take suo motu action against abettors and facilitators of human rights.



“Cases relating to missing persons and military courts will remain in focus during its [commission] proceedings,” observed Senator Kamil Ali Agha, a member of the parliamentary committee which sent nominations of seven persons – a chairman as well as members of the commission.

In the wake of Friday’s development, chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Zohra Yusuf said: “It is certainly a positive step. Cases relating to blasphemy and minority communities as well as the military courts will prove a litmus test,” she told The Express Tribune. This is a very powerful commission and minority communities will feel protected under it, she added.

According to the NCHR Act 2012, the chairman and members of the commission can visit any jail, place of detention or institutions or place under control of agencies where the detainees or other persons are lodged.

The commission can “intervene in any proceeding involving any allegation of violation of human rights pending before a court,” reads the Act.

“Names of chairman and members were confirmed unanimously,” said MNA Muzaffar Hussain Shah, who is the chairman of the committee.

The panel has confirmed names of Ishaq Masih Naz for minority communities’ representation, Khishwar Shaheen Awan for Punjab, Anis Haroon for Sindh, Dr Yahya Ahmed for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Fazeela Ilyani for Balochistan while Muhammd Shafiq will represent Islamabad Capital Territory, Shah told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2015.