HRCP – Page 3 – Newswire Pakistan

February 17, 2022February 18, 2022

HRCP sounds alarm over enforced disappearances

Lahore, February 17, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is alarmed by reports of a fresh wave of enforced disappearances in Balochistan and the rest of the country, including most recently, Hafeez Baloch, a postgraduate student at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. Mr Baloch was allegedly disappeared while in Khuzdar, where he volunteers at a local school. Reports suggest that he was abducted in front of his students. The sheer brazenness of this act underscores the increasing impunity accorded to perpetrators. Mr Baloch must be recovered immediately and the perpetrators identified and held accountable.

Regrettably, the government’s earlier pledge to criminalise enforced disappearances continues to ring hollow. Two students at Balochistan University were allegedly disappeared last November, but an extended sit-in by students at the university was met with little more than vague assurances that they would be recovered.

HRCP is particularly concerned by the continuing shroud of silence over enforced disappearances in the province, which remains deliberately cut off from the mainstream media. The state must understand that it cannot expect to resolve the legitimate grievances of the Baloch people if it is not prepared to let these grievances see the light of day.

For more information, contact:
Chairperson,
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
Aiwan-i-Jamhoor, 107-Tipu Block,
New Garden Town, Lahore-54600
Tel: +92-42-35864994
Fax: +92-42-35883582
Email: hrcp@hrcp-web.org
Website: www.hrcp-web.org

February 12, 2022February 13, 2022

HRCP celebrates women’s resilience on National Women’s Day

Lahore, February 12, 2022 (PPI-OT):In commemorating National Women’s Day, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is proud to have been part of the women’s movement and to have stood shoulder to shoulder with the thousands of women who have defied regressive laws and repressive regimes to claim their rights at work, in the home and in public spaces.

It is a testament to their resilience and spirit that the women’s movement in Pakistan now cuts across ethnicity, faith, age, gender identity, disability, and class. If the incidence and scope of violence against women has increased in recent years from the brutal murder of Noor Mukaddam in Islamabad to the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing of women in Balochistan – so too has their capacity to see justice done.

It is through the tireless advocacy of women and their allies that women are now better protected at least in law against violence, harassment and abuse. Nonetheless, HRCP foresees stiffer battles ahead, to which we believe this new generation of women’s rights defenders is more than equal.

February 2, 2022February 3, 2022

Pashtun workers forcibly disappeared, HRCP demands release

Lahore, February 02, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is seriously concerned to learn that at least four Pashtun workers have been forcibly disappeared following the bomb blast that occurred in Anarkali, Lahore, on 20 January.

According to HRCP’s sources, two persons were disappeared from near Lahore Railway Station on 22 January – it has taken almost ten days for their families or friends to file an FIR against the incident. Another Pashtun worker was disappeared after persons in civilian clothes raided his flat in the early hours of 26 January. Yet another Pashtun worker was forced to exit the rickshaw he was traveling in and taken away, again by persons in civilian clothing. No arrest warrants were issued and their friends and relatives have been unable to establish their whereabouts. In the latter two cases, the police have refused to issue an FIR.

This has become a worryingly familiar pattern, with four Baloch students similarly detained without charge during raids on 22 January in connection with the Anarkali blast and then released. We demand that all four be located and their right to physical integrity and dignity of person guaranteed. If they or indeed anyone are to be detained at all, then law enforcement personnel are duty-bound to follow procedure and clearly indicate on what charge they have been detained and where they are being held.

January 31, 2022

Murder of Christian pastor in Peshawar act of wanton violence

Lahore, January 31, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) strongly condemns the murder of Pastor William Siraj, who was shot dead in Peshawar on Sunday on his way home from church. Reverend Patrick Naeem was also injured in the attack. HRCP sees this as a blatant assault not only on Pakistan’s Christian community, but on all religious minorities whose right to life and security of person remains under constant threat. We are especially concerned that, amid signs of growing radicalisation across the country, religious minorities will become increasingly relegated to the margins, and violence against their communities allowed to continue with impunity.

It has been eight years since the Supreme Court judgment handed down by Justice Tassaduq Jillani in 2014 laid down concrete measures for the state to protect the rights of religious minorities. More than ever, the ethos of this judgement must be understood and pursued by all arms of the state which includes promptly investigating and prosecuting perpetrators of violence against religious minorities – if Pakistan is to roll back the damage done by the rise of the far right.

January 24, 2022January 25, 2022

Itinerant workers’ rights should be guaranteed: HRCP conference

Lahore, January 24, 2022 (PPI-OT):At a conference organised online by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), speakers agreed that it was critical to help vulnerable groups such as undocumented seasonal workers and nomadic communities gain access to citizenship documents. HRCP has found that such individuals are largely unable to access healthcare, schooling for their children, social security packages, and Covid-19 vaccination, while many are unaware of the benefits of citizenship documents altogether.

NADRA chairperson Muhammad Tariq Malik said that a social contract between the state and its citizens was only possible if all citizens had a legal identity. ‘If the state cannot count you,’ he explained, ‘you cannot count on the state.’ He said that NADRA had launched its ‘inclusive registration drive’ for precisely this purpose, adding that alternative citizenship identity instruments should be made easily available to vulnerable communities such as seasonal workers in cases where they lacked the documentation needed to apply for a CNIC.

HRCP chairperson Hina Jilani said that, while access to a CNIC may be subject to scrutiny for ‘security reasons’, the state had become ‘security-obsessive’ at the cost of protecting people’s right to citizenship. NADRA should partner with community-based organisations to extend its outreach, she added, while the government in turn should value the work of nongovernment organisations rather than targeting them.

Former senator and HRCP Council member Farhatullah Babar suggested that a Senate Committee of the Whole be established to address the status of undocumented workers and stateless persons, adding that all persons resident in Pakistan should be provided some form of documentation that enabled access to at least some benefits, fundamentally to healthcare.

Punjab Assembly member Bushra Butt, KP Assembly member Ikhtiar Wali Khan, and Sindh Assembly member Rana Ansar agreed that all four provinces should work together to develop recommendations to facilitate people’s access to citizenship documents. Deputy speaker of the Sindh Assembly Rehana Laghari pointed out that the process was especially cumbersome for orphans, children born out of wedlock, and rural women whose mobility was restricted.

Tahera Hasan, director of Imkaan Welfare Organisation, pointed out that frontline workers were often unaware of changes in NADRA policy, such as when documentation requirements were simplified. Activist Usman Ghani explained that, for ethnic minorities such as the Bengali community in Karachi, obtaining a CNIC – even when possible – could take up to two years. Senior journalist Talat Hussain said that people who were not considered ‘relevant’ were not counted in the debate over access to citizenship.

January 7, 2022January 8, 2022

HRCP welcomes appointment of Justice Ayesha Malik to Supreme Court

Lahore, January 07, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) welcomes the appointment of Justice Ayesha Malik to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. As the first woman judge appointed to the apex court in the country’s judicial history, this is an important step towards improving gender diversity in the judiciary, where women reportedly account for only 17 percent of judges overall and just under 4.4 percent in the high courts.

Nonetheless, addressing Pakistan’s gender disparity and indeed other forms of disparity on the grounds of class, ethnicity or religion on the bench and in the bar warrants a more proactive, long-term approach that tackles structural discrimination and casual sexism in the legal community. This entails appointing competent women – who are certainly not in short supply – to decision-making positions such as the Judicial Commission of Pakistan, and investing resources in making the legal profession, including education, training and other opportunities for professional development, more easily available to women across class and region. Additionally, the nomination and appointment procedure should be made transparent and more democratic to avoid controversies.

A more gender-diverse judiciary will have far-reaching effects on people’s access to justice and the quality of justice. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that a greater proportion of women on the bench would make the courts more accessible for litigants and victims from vulnerable groups, in turn improving public confidence in the judiciary itself.