The Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP) and other civil society groups urged Thursday to the government to immediately address the “prevalent human rights crisis” that affect the country, including repressions in protesters and the misuse of blasphemy and cyberinitorism laws.
The lawsuit occurred in the middle of a recent repression against the protesters of the Baloch Jakjehti (Byc) committee that was demonstrated against the forced disappearances and the arrests of their leadership in Karachi and Quetta, as well as a series of other human rights problems, from the orientation of journalists to an increase in cases under the law of prevention of the crimes of the electron crimes of 2016 Blaspmy.
HRCP and other civil society and rights groups held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club today to attract attention to problems and asked federal and provincial governments to urgently address the “multiple human rights crises throughout the country”, according to a press release issued after the media talk.
“The increase in state authoritarianism, the suppression of dissent by force, the restrictions on freedom of the press and the growing influence of the establishment on the government have led to a generalized discontent.
“The short -term forced disappearance of journalists and rights activists is now a significant cause of alarm,” said the press release.
He added that the alleged role of the establishment in politics had “snow fool at the expense of democratic governance”, while accusations of political interference in the Judiciary had also shaken public confidence in the legal system.
“Religious extremism continues to be armed against marginalized groups, particularly in Punjab against the Ahmadi community. The growing influence of militants in Pakistan’s border regions, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has left common people more and more vulnerable to violence and extortion, creating a climate of constant fear.
He said that in Baluchistan, which began as a “struggle for fundamental rights” is now being labeled as “terrorism” by the State.
“Instead of initiating a political dialogue with the interested parties in the province, the authorities have continued to use disproportionate force against protesters, resorting to mass arrests.
“At the same time, militant groups have begun to attack civilians with an alarming frequency. In Sindh, protests against the controversial construction of channels in the Indo have intensified, given that any movement of this type would be a direct assault on the environmental rights of people,” said the joint statement.
He pointed out that both the federal government and the political opposition had not yet been able to achieve a “very necessary consensus” on the future of the country and the role of Parliament had retreated, with laws approved “hurriedly and without deliberation.”
He pointed out that continuous inflation, youth unemployment and labor rights violations remained unbridled since the minimum wage laws were not enforced, pensioners were denied their fees and employees in the public and private sectors that contained with delayed wages.
The groups jointly demanded a political solution to the Baluchistan crisis with the end of the forced disappearances and the unconditional release of all detainees after the recent protests.
They also requested the abolition of “oppressive laws”, including Peca, and a reversal of policies that restrict civil freedoms.
Among their other demands, the groups said that they should have stopped immediately in the construction of channels in the Indo River and, on the other hand, there should be a transparent water use policy that reflects the will of people; There must be an end of “monitoring of corporate lands under the appearance of” agricultural development “” and there should be the redistribution of land owned by the government to landless farmers in Sindh and other regions.
During the press conference, the president of HRCP, Asad Iqbal Butt, also raised the issue of minimum wages and blamed inflation for the lack of law and order in the country.
Riaz Shaikh, Dean of Arts of the Szabist University, expressed serious concern for universities in Baluchistan allegedly obliged to organize antimilitating protests after the attack of Jaffer Express, saying that such coercion “would create the foundations of hatred and resentment” in the student body.
Meanwhile, the National Secretary of the Federation of the Union Union, Nasir Mansoor, said that a “red line” had crossed in how Baloch’s protesters and women were now being “treated by the authorities in response to exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and speech.”
“If a journalist quotes this, the PCA law will apply to them,” he said, denouncing the use of the Cyber Crime Law in such a way.
“Every time people try to take the democratic route, they send police people and agencies to deal with them and other protesters in whom section 144 does not apply,” he said, urging the authorities to pay attention to the lessons of the Bangladesh debacle of 1971.
Mahnaz Rahman, a member of the Women’s Action Forum, echoed the feelings of Mansoor and said that the Peca law had “taken away the freedom of expression of people.”
Khalique Junejo, president of Jeaay Sindh Mahaz, also agreed with Mansoor, pointing out how Anti-BYC protests were apparently backed by the authorities, but the protesters of Baloch’s rights were arrested under section 144.
He described Sindh a “colony”, referring to the selective application of section 144.
Health Ahmed’s lawyer also criticized the weapon of the laws of blasphemy and cyber crimes in the country, warning that the country was approaching a situation of a “tick bomb.”
He suggested how the government could “with touch” solve the country’s many problems by not opening multiple adverserial fronts at the same time.
