Corporate report

Pakistan - in-year update July 2015

Published 15 July 2015

The first six months of 2015 have seen further concerns about the extent and severity of human rights abuses in Pakistan. The number of executions since the moratorium was lifted and the increasingly narrow space for NGOs to operate in were just two of the worrying trends in this period.

On 6 January, following the terrorist attack on a Peshawar school, both houses of parliament agreed to amend the constitution to allow civilian terrorist cases to be heard in military courts for a two-year period. Although the 21st Amendment was passed unanimously, two religious parties boycotted the vote, and there were concerns that this move could undermine democracy and the judiciary. The Pakistan Bar Council held protests and supported petitions filed with the Supreme Court against military courts, arguing that the law is in contradiction of fundamental rights and the basic structure of the constitution. The British High Commission continues to raise UK concerns about the process in military courts with the Pakistani authorities.

Between mid-December and the end of June, over 170 executions have been carried out, 23 for terrorism offences. In February, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir two men were executed for killing the son of the Advocate General of Azad Kashmir. These were the first executions for non-terrorist offences since the partial lifting of the six-year death penalty moratorium in December. On 10 March, the government, arguing that a partial moratorium for non-terrorist cases was not legally sustainable, announced the lifting of the moratorium for all capital offences. In March, the British High Commissioner raised UK concerns about the reinstatement of the death penalty with Pakistan’s Interior Minister. On 10 June, following the execution of a man alleged to have been a juvenile and tortured prior to his sentencing, the EU called on Pakistan to reinstate the moratorium and respect its international obligations, describing the resumption of executions as “a major step backwards in Pakistan’s record on human rights”.

Sectarian killings continued across Pakistan, most notably in Karachi, where members of rival Sunni and Shia Muslim political parties were targeted. On 30 January, more than 60 Shia Muslims were killed and 60 injured in an explosion in an imambargah (Shia place of worship) in Shikarpur, Sindh. FCO Minister for Pakistan, Tobias Ellwood, publicly condemned the attack. More than 150 Shias have been killed in the first six months of 2015 in attacks in all four provinces of Pakistan. Pakistan Taliban-allied groups have claimed responsibility. On 13 May, 43 Ismailis were killed and eight injured in Karachi when gunmen boarded the bus they were travelling in and shot them at point-blank range. An affiliate of ISIL, Jundullah, alongside several other groups, later claimed responsibility for this unprecedented attack on the Ismaili community. Mr Ellwood andthe Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi both condemned the attack. In April and May at least seven Hazaras in Quetta were killed in three separate attacks by unidentified gunmen, bringing strikes and protests to the city.

In January an anti-terrorism court (ATC) sentenced a member of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) to death and gave life imprisonment to another TTP member for their role in a 2010 attack on an Ahmadiyya place of worship in Lahore. On 21 March, an Ahmadiyya youth leader was shot dead by unknown assailants in the Malir area of Karachi.

Non-Muslim communities also faced attacks in this period. On 15 March, 15 people were killed and more than 80 wounded after two suicide bombers targeted two churches in Lahore. The Pakistan Taliban’s Jamaatul Ahrar faction reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks. Mr Ellwood and the British High Commissioner both condemned the attacks. Two men were burnt to death by an angry mob following the attacks, and thousands of Christians rioted in Lahore and other major cities, smashing property and vehicles in two days of protests.

In January, the Sindh High Court made what appeared to be a landmark judgment when it ruled that the state is responsible for protecting property belonging to members of religious minorities who have either died or gone abroad. In February, the Supreme Court summoned the Sindh police chief following complaints from the Pakistan Hindu Council that the Sindh government was not serious about protecting Hindu places of worship in the province. The South Asia Partnership NGO revealed in March that 265 cases of forced conversion, mostly involving Hindu girls, had been reported across the country in 2014. According to the NGO, around 3,000 applications for migration were pending approval with the Indian High Commission. In May, the government presented a draft “Hindu Marriage Bill” to the National Assembly which, for the first time, would provide a mechanism to register Hindu marriages.

In January, the Aurat Foundation Balochistan reported 187 cases of violence against women across Balochistan in 2014, an increase from 151 cases in the previous year. 75 women were murdered in so-called “honour killings” compared to 45 in 2013. At least 21 women committed suicide due to domestic problems, six women were kidnapped, and four were gang raped. In March, the Senate (upper house) unanimously passed a bill making honour-killing a non-compoundable offence, which can no longer be settled by pardon or compensation. The Senate also passed the Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape Bill proposing imprisonment and fines for perpetrators of torture in custody and custodial rapes. The Sindh Assembly passed a law in April to establish a provincial “commission on the status of women”. The 21-member commission would monitor and oversee compliance of national and provincial laws and international conventions and highlight discriminatory practices, abuses, and violations of women’s rights. In June, a standing committee of the Punjab Assembly approved the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Bill, to be placed before the next session of the Punjab Assembly.

In February there were hopes that the long-awaited National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) would soon be operational. The parliamentary committee on NCHR approved retired Justice Ali Nawaz Chohan to head the commission, along with one member from each province and minority representatives. In mid-June the NCHR chairperson announced the commission would start functioning within a month. In the same month, officials from the British High Commission met officials from the Law Ministry to discuss the establishment of the NCHR and proposed reform of the blasphemy law.

There continued to be reports of extrajudicial killing by the police and military. In March residents of a village in South Waziristan reported the discovery of the bodies of 13 local men, who they claimed had been detained by the military in January.

In March, Abdul Qadeer Baloch, also known as Mama Qadeer, the vice-chairperson of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, was prevented from travelling to New York for a conference on alleged human rights violations in Balochistan and Sindh. In April, Sabeen Mahmud, social media campaigner and human rights activist, was shot dead in Karachi minutes after she had hosted a discussion on disappearances in Baluchistan.

In March, the ruling PML-N and opposition PTI agreed to set up a judicial commission to probe allegations of rigging in the May 2013 general election. The leader of the opposition in the National Assembly welcomed this agreement, and asked the government to convene an all-party conference to discuss electoral reforms.

In January, Balochistan became the first province to complete all stages of local government elections with the election of mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and deputy chairmen of district councils and union councils. In February, the Supreme Court directed the Electoral Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to confirm what dates the commission was ready to hold local government elections in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 30 May, there were widely-reported incidents of electoral mismanagement and violence. The ECP held the provincial government responsible for failing to maintain law and order during the elections and opposition parties called for a recount.

On 11 June, the Islamabad office of Save the Children was closed and sealed by the authorities. This came at a time of growing uncertainty over the status of registration for international NGOs (INGOs) in Pakistan. On 16 June, PM Nawaz released a statement saying that all INGOs presently working in Pakistan could continue to function for a period of six months, until a new policy was agreed, and that they would need to complete a fresh registration process within three months. On 24 June, Save the Children was allowed to resume operations in Pakistan. The international and NGO community raised their concerns at the highest levels about uncertainty over INGO registration and the potential impact on INGO ability to deliver programmes.