Pakistan - country of Concern: latest update, 31 March 2013
Updated 21 January 2015
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The first three months of 2014 have seen no substantive improvements in human rights in Pakistan, and incidents of violence have continued. The year began with sectarian attacks across the country. On 1 January, a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a bus carrying Shia pilgrims travelling from Iran. One person was killed and 34 injured. The banned militant outfit Jaish al Islam claimed responsibility to avenge an assault on a madrassa (Islamic seminary) in Rawalpindi during Ashura (major festival for Shia Muslims). In the last three months, there were reports of sectarian killings of Shia and Sunni Muslims in all four provinces of Pakistan.
January also saw another attack on the Hazaras (Afghan ethnic group) of Balochistan. In Mastung, 25 Hazara Shia pilgrims were killed by a Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (Sunni terrorist organisation) suicide bomber. Hundreds of Hazaras held a 48 hour sit-in in Quetta refusing to bury their dead until Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan met Hazara representatives and assured them that action would be taken. The road between Quetta and the Iranian border was temporarily closed due to the attack, stranding hundreds of pilgrims; 215 were airlifted by the Pakistan Air Force to Quetta.
In the same month, the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) reported a rise in sectarian attacks in 2013. A reported 208 attacks resulted in 658 deaths and 1,195 injured. The number of suicide attacks rose by 39%. Out of 33 sectarian attacks in Balochistan in 2013, 22 took place in Quetta district, home to the province’s Hazaras and Shias.
The Institute for Social Justice, an NGO working for the rights of child labourers, reported from Punjab on the torture of 21 child domestic workers, including eight deaths, during 2013. Pakistan does not have separate laws regulating the employment of under-age children for domestic help. In January, a ten-year-old maid in Lahore was allegedly beaten to death by her employer who had accused her of stealing. In February, a 13-year-old girl also working as a maid in Lahore was found strangled in her employer’s home.
In March, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) condemned recent demands from the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) as “a vicious attack on women’s and girls’ fundamental rights”. The CII, an advisory body, had recommended amendments to the marriage laws so that men no longer require the consent of existing wives to remarry. The chairman of the CII had also called laws prohibiting child marriage “unislamic”. At the end of March, the Sindh Assembly passed a unanimous resolution against recent CII recommendations and asked the federal government to do away with the Council “as it is causing more damage than Pakistan can afford”.
On 17 March two girls were murdered for “honour” in Shikarpur, Sindh after marrying men from another community. An illegal jirga (a court of elders) presided over by a local politician, fined the two men 2.8 million Pakistani Rupees (approximately US$ 28,525.00) for kidnapping the girls but condoned the killings. Following media reports, the Chief Justice of Pakistan ordered action against 13 people, including the leader of the jirga, and local police formed an investigation team.
Muslim and non-Muslim minorities faced increasing attacks in the last three months. In January six men were killed at a sufi shrine in Karachi in a suspected attack by the Pakistani Taliban. Sufi shrines in Sialkot and Balochistan were desecrated and set on fire. In February eight people were killed and 17 injured at a Karachi faith healer’s home. In the same month, the Pakistani Taliban threatened to attack the Kalash and Ismaili communities if they did not convert to Islam. In March, a Hindu temple in Larkana was damaged in protest at the alleged desecration of the Quran. At the end of March, a Hindu temple in Hyderabad was set on fire.
Polio workers have again been targeted during this period. On 1 March, 13 people were killed by roadside bombings during polio vaccinations in the Khyber tribal region. Later in the month, a polio worker from the Peshawar area was kidnapped from her home, tortured and killed, and a police constable escorting a polio team in Loralai was shot dead. An estimated 60 polio workers have been killed since December 2012.
A march from Quetta to Islamabad to protest against enforced disappearances and killings of Baloch continued until the end of February. The “Voice for Baloch Missing Persons” organisation alleges that more than 18,000 Baloch are currently “missing”. In January, a mass grave containing at least 13 decomposed bodies was discovered in Khuzdar, Balochistan. The provincial government constituted a special medical board to carry out an autopsy and DNA tests and the Chief Justice of Pakistan ordered a detailed report. In March, four more mutilated bodies were found in the same area.
The implementation of local body elections remained mixed across the four provinces. In January, local body by-elections for 98 seats were carried out peacefully in Balochistan. In February, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government completed organisation of the province into village and neighbourhood councils in preparation for April local government polls. The Supreme Court allowed further postponing of local body elections scheduled for January in Punjab and Sindh pending necessary electoral boundary delimitation. In February, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) reported that election tribunals have only decided on 198 out of 410 complaints from the May 2013 elections, and are unlikely to meet the 120-day adjudication period.
On 23 January, Mohammad Asghar, a 65-year-old British national with a history of mental illness, was sentenced to death after being convicted under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. The Prime Minister said he was “deeply concerned” about Mr Asghar during parliamentary questions. Senior Minister of State, Baroness Warsi raised his case with the Chief Minister of Punjab, and Foreign & Commonwealth Office officials and the British High Commissioner lobbied the Pakistani authorities. The British High Commission continues to provide consular assistance to Mr Asghar to ensure he is properly cared for and has access to legal representation. In March the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a report on blasphemy law prisoners. The report noted the law was “used at a level incomparable to others”, with 14 individuals on death row for blasphemy, 19 serving life sentences, and many others awaiting sentence for blasphemy. On 28 March, Sawan Masih, a Christian from Lahore, was sentenced to death for blasphemy. Masih had been originally accused in March 2013 of triggering the Joseph Colony riots when over 100 homes were set on fire.
Freedom of expression in Pakistan came under increasing pressure in the last three months. In January the Pakistani Taliban issued a hit-list of more than 20 journalists and publishers it held responsible for misrepresenting the Taliban. In the same month, three Express News employees were killed in Karachi. Journalists were also murdered in Larkana and Mansehra during this period. At the end of March, journalist and TV anchor Raza Rumi, known for his outspoken views against the Taliban, narrowly escaped an attempt on his life in Lahore, though his driver was killed. The British High Commissioner in Islamabad issued a statement condemning the attack on Raza Rumi, and expressing support to all journalists in Pakistan for doing an important job in difficult circumstances.