Special report on the state of human rights

Shaista Almani, the young school-teacher who married Balkhsher Mahar from a rival tribe in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh in early 2003, starting a saga of tribal threats, separation for over eight months and a forced divorce, is now reunited with her husband as a result of a Sindh High Court (SHC) ruling of March 2004 - but she is not free. Fearing for their life and safety due to the threat posed by tribesmen opposing their marriage, the young couple lives in virtual confinement at the Police Lines in Karachi. Their lawyer, former Law Minister Iqbal Haider, told IRIN in the southern port city of Karachi that the couple are "unable to leave their living quarters without police permission and an escort, which is not always given, and they cannot move freely anywhere on their own". "This is no kind of life. It is like being in jail. It is no solution to their problem," he added. Yet Shaista and Balkhsher, despite their hardships, are among the fortunate. They are, after all, still alive. Other couples, guilty only of deciding to marry of their own free will, have met a far grimmer fate. In October 2003, Shazia Khaskheli, 19, the daughter of a senior bank officer, and her husband, Mohammad Hussain, were executed in Sanghar, apparently on the orders of a Khaskheli tribal jirga (gathering). They had been tortured for several hours before being taken to an open drain and shot. Both were said to be near death as a result of brutal violence inflicted before their murder. Their murderers today remain free. Another young woman, Mussarat Afsheen, and her husband, Hussain, were killed a few months later in the Multan area - in a case that gained the media limelight only after President Pervez Musharraf himself ordered an inquiry. "Till the presidential orders came, the local police and everyone here were simply interested in a cover-up of the facts," Rashed Rehman, a Multan-based rights activist who worked extensively in uncovering the truth about the case, told IRIN. "This is also what happens with most such cases, especially in southern Punjab," he asserted. At least 600 other women across the country became victims of similar "honour" killings during the year, some as a result of verdicts meted out by medieval jirgas. Though such tribal gatherings are banned, with the SHC reinforcing this in a verdict this year, while the country's Supreme Court reaffirmed in December 2003 that adult, Muslim men and women have the right to make their own choice in matters of marriage, it would appear that the hold of tradition is far greater than that of law. "In fact there is no law. Laws that exist are not implemented, mere lip service is paid to the rights of women from official quarters, there is impunity from justice for those with influence or money and the holding of more and more tribal jirgas also indicates a breakdown of the existing legal system," senior lawyer Hina Jilani, secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and a UN special rapporteur, told IRIN in Lahore. HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES What are interpreted as multiple failures of the system of justice in fact play a major role in human rights abuses. At least 30 people were reported to have died last year at police stations and prisons across the country as a result of torture inflicted by police or prison staff. In some cases, attempts were made to attribute the deaths to suicide. Other accounts of severe beatings or torture by police, for offences as minor as protesting at the parking of an FIA (Federal investigation Agency) official's car in a narrow alley in Lahore, as happened to Shahzad Ali a few months ago, come in almost daily. In a vast majority of the cases, policemen or prison staff members guilty of causing death by beating people with iron chains, dunking their heads in filthy water for prolonged periods or inflicting electric shocks are able to escape without punishment. "Almost everyone unfortunate enough to land up in a Pakistani jail faces brutality of one kind of another," Brigadier (retd) Rao Abid Hamid, who heads HRCP's vulnerable prisoners' project, told IRIN in Lahore. The restrictions placed on visits to prisons by human rights groups, lawyers and other citizens appear to have contributed to the worsening of conditions within jails. "For the last four or five years we have been prevented from visiting jails, and even details about the number of prisoners held, their crimes and so on are very difficult to obtain," said Brig. Abid. OVERCROWDING AT JAILS While overcrowding at jails is an immense problem, with over 51,000 prisoners detained in the 30 jails in the Punjab province, which have an authorised capacity for just over 17,500, the fact that at least 6,593 people in jails across the country are held in death cells, awaiting execution, is an added concern. Eighteen executions were carried out in 2003, while 603 people were sentenced to death. This meant a sizeable addition to the backlog, with some of those on death row still waiting to be hanged for over a decade or more. In the Punjab, every third convict awaits execution, in many cases in the confined space of death cells, with rights available to other prisoners such as time outside the cell or regular visits with relatives, denied to them. The low budgets available to jails meanwhile mean that in some cases, there is literally not enough money available to provide three meals a day to prisoners. Corruption, indifference and the lack of training of jail staff aggravate these difficulties. "Conditions in most jails are inhumane and the jails are not fit for any human being," Abid maintained. And with remand prisoners making up the vast majority of the prison population, largely due to the poor working of the police and lower judicial systems, even those not guilty of any crime often face such treatment for years on end. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS The global slogan of the "battle against militancy" meanwhile appears to have given way to a still greater license to authorities to infringe upon the rights of citizens. The most recent evidence of this has come in the South Waziristan area of Wana, with an operation against militants there carried out by hundreds of Pakistan army troops early this year. While the need to tackle militancy is an issue that finds support in many quarters, the lack of transparency in the conduct of the operation, the accusation that the houses of villagers had been targeted and statements made by military officials of "punishing generations of tribesmen to come" for failing to cooperate with those carrying out the action against militants are issues that have been taken up by rights watchdog bodies such as HRCP. "The rights abuses in Wana are very worrying. As for the latest tactics, of asking ordinary people to form lashkars (armies) and hunt down wanted criminals, this also seems to fall beyond the ambit of lawful practice," Asma Jahangir, supreme court lawyer and former chairperson of HRCP, told IRIN in Lahore. Other citizens have been "picked up" apparently by one of the country's many investigative agencies, with their whereabouts still unknown. Among them is Dr Aafia Siddiqui from Karachi, accused by the US of helping al-Qaeda. Dr Siddiqui, along with her three small children, "vanished" early in 2003. Over a year later, she is still missing, despite reassurances by the federal interior minister, Faisel Saleh Hayat to her distraught family, that she would return soon. Some estimates suggest there are dozens others like her in the country. "We are against militancy, and all the damage it has done to the country. But we want that any action, including that against militants, be carried out within the law and the rule of law be followed," said I.A. Rehman, director of HRCP and one of the country's most senior journalists. FETTERED PRESS Indeed, with the powers available to agencies apparently on the increase, newsmen have been among those targeted for harassment and intimidation. Even while government officials continue to pledge a commitment to free expression, and maintain the press remains unfettered, behind the scenes the situation is far murkier. Journalists, among them Amir Mir, Mubashar Zaidi, Khawar Mehdi Rizvi and Rashid Azam have all been at the receiving end of harassment by the State. Mir was the editor of the weekly publication The Independent until June 2003. The magazine's tough investigative stories and determination to expose governmental wrongdoing however led to a campaign of intimidation being launched, which eventually forced Mir to resign. Since then, the journal has lost the sharp edge for which it was known, and is seen in the media industry as little more than a toothless rag. Khuzdar-based Rashid Azam, also an activist for the Baloch National Movement (BNM), was arrested in August 2003 on charges of distributing a calendar hostile to the army. He remains in jail almost eight months later. Hina Jilani, who visited Khuzdar as part of a HRCP mission in October 2003, believes Azam has been jailed because of the opinions he expressed while writing for several local papers against mega-projects in Gwadar and the impact they would have on local life. She points out that while BNM leaders have publicly stated they were in fact behind the circulation of the calendar, they remain untouched. "This is clearly yet another attempt at intimidation of a journalist because of the views he expressed in his writing," she told IRIN. Mubashar Zaidi faced hostile attacks from the federal information ministry after visiting a seminary, along with a US-based journalist, and being taken captive by students. The information ministry accused the two newsmen of deliberately attempting to incite trouble. Khawar Mehdi Rizvi was finally released in March 2004 after being arrested in December 2003, kept at an unknown location for months, tortured and then charged in February 2004 with fabricating evidence in collaboration with two French journalists, who were also briefly arrested at the end of 2003 but eventually released. Other actions against press institutions have included a ban on government advertising, a key source of revenue for any newspaper. The giant Nawa-e-Waqt group of publications, which brings out the Urdu language daily Nawa-e-Waqt and the English language The Nation, has been among the most recent to come in for such victimisation. Sindhi newspapers, known for their vibrancy and willingness to discuss controversial issues usually skirted around by the national press, remain a special target, with 12 forced to close in the last three years as a result of actions aimed at curtailing sources of revenue. While the Freedom of Information Ordinance, permitting journalists and indeed all citizens, limited rights to access official information, had been promulgated late in 2002, it is still to be enforced even into 2004. This, in fact, means that journalists have no right to obtain information. OTHER LAWS ON THE PRESS Other laws on the press, promulgated around the same time, too remain unenforced, with media institutions operating in a vacuum. Recommendations made by media bodies, including the APNS (All Pakistan Newspapers Society) and the CPNE (Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors), on amending the laws, that many fear will be used to further restrict press liberties, have been ignored. In an environment increasingly unsafe for mediamen, Amir Bux Brohi, 26, of the Sindhi daily, Kaawish was gunned down in October 2003 in a murder that many of his colleagues attribute to the stories he wrote. Earlier, in February 2003, Fazal Wahab, a political activist who had written a book attacking clerics, was murdered in Mingora. Extremist groups were thought to be behind the killing. SIGN OF HOPE The arrival on the scene of an expanding number of independently-run cable television channels, as the electronic media in the country swiftly expands however represent a sign of hope. The channels offer cable television viewers a welcome alternative to news provided by the state-controlled Pakistan Television. While licences for land-based television channels, with the ability to reach a far greater number of viewers, are still to be issued, there is optimism that this will happen before long. The decision taken this year to allow print-media owners to also operate television channels is also seen as a step towards opening up the media. "There are some positive signs, but unfortunately these are quite limited," I.A. Rehman said. "Much more needs to be done to create an environment in which there is a right available to citizens to obtain information," he said. SECTARIAN VIOLENCE With militant trends on the rise across the country, sectarian violence claimed a toll on over 150 lives over the past 12 months alone. Two of the worst incidents came in Quetta, where in July over 50 Shia Muslims were killed in an attack on an Imambargah (Shia place of worship). In yet another attack on Shias in February 2004, on the 10th day of the Muslim mourning month of Muharram, most devoutedly observed by Shias, over 50 other members of the minority sect lost their lives when gunshots were fired at a mourning procession. While Shias, as a result of such targeted killings continue to feel increasingly unsafe in the country, the fate of other minority groups is still grimmer. The Ahmadi community, declared to be non-Muslims over two decades ago on account of their beliefs concerning the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad, remain the target of particularly disturbing campaigns of intimidation spearheaded by clerics linked to the Tehreek-e-Khatam-e-Nabuwat (Movement for the Finality of the Prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad). Ahmadi children have been forced out of schools, Ahmadi graves desecrated and members of the community, concentrated in the Punjab town of Rabwah (renamed Chenabnagar in 1998 by the Punjab government under pressure from orthodox clerics, who opposed the name chosen by Ahmadi for their settlement) beaten and threatened. Officially sanctioned state action has added to their sufferings. The Punjab government has consistently permitted orthodox groups to organise meetings at Rabwah, during which Ahmadis are openly attacked. Laws against the incitement of hatred have not been enacted to punish those making speeches in which citizens are asked to socially ostracise Ahmadis, and even to drive them out of villages or to kill them. Still more disturbingly, early in 2004 the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reimposed a rule under which all Muslims are required to sign an oath as to their religious beliefs before being registered as voters. The rule specifically targets Ahmadi voters, with the government aware they will not sign the declaration. The action, apparently taken under pressure from clerics, means that the joint electorate for all citizens, which the Musharraf administration had announced it was bringing in prior to the October 2002 general election, exists only on paper. In effect, Ahmadis are in fact denied the right to vote, while the ECP decision to maintain separate voting lists for non-Muslims goes against the principle of a joint electorate system for all citizens. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DISCRIMINATION While Christians in the country have, over the last year, not faced the kind of attacks on churches and missionary institutions seen in 2002, they remain victims of severe social and economic discrimination. In an increasing number of cases, Christians have been denied employment due to their religious beliefs, while the community remains among the poorest in economic terms. "Forced conversions are today among the worst problems faced by Christians, and this trend of coercing both women and men to change their religion is on the increase," Joseph Francis, an activist for minority rights, who heads the NGO CLASS, told IRIN. Some of the worst atrocities committed by the state against impoverished citizens were seen through 2003 at military-run farms in the Punjab, on which landless tenants had staged a continuing struggle for their rights. At Okara, Khanewal and other locations these tenants continue to live under siege, their villages surrounded by armed Rangers. While over a dozen tenants lost their lives during the struggle, hundreds others face cases of sedition and treason lodged against them as part of a campaign of officially sanctioned intimidation and brutality. QUOTAS FOR WOMEN Whereas the arrival in the national and provincial assemblies of 188 women, ushered in as a result of a reservation of a 33 percent quota for women, has not brought in any radical changes as far as legislative measures go, it has contributed to a widening of debate within parliament on issues of relevance to ordinary citizens. In the NWFP assembly, rampant child sexual abuse at schools has come in for attention, with the Mutthaida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government in the province promising new laws. A bill on domestic violence has been tabled in the Punjab Assembly, the issue of bonded labour has been discussed on several occasions in the Sindh Assembly while a debate on a repeal of the Hudood ordinances of 1979, seen as discriminating against women, continues in the National Assembly and at other forums. A recommendation by the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in early 2003 that the laws be scrapped has galvanized rights activists in their campaign against the Hudood ordinances, while the MMA oppose their scrapping from the statue books on the grounds that laws laid down by Islam cannot be altered. The NCSW recommendation came after a series of consultations that had continued for much of the past 18 months, and included leading clerics and religious scholars. WIDER DEBATE Despite the wider debate on women's issues in the assemblies, gender-based discrimination in education, employment and political life continues. Tribal jirgas in the northern areas, early in 2004, once more barred women from participating or voting in polls for local councils, with authorities failing to enforce laws that made such bars on women a punishable offence. "HRCP has consistently called for such laws to be enforced, and the failure to do so suggests there is a lack of will," Hina Jilani maintained. The increased attention from official circles to issues such as child labour also comes as an improvement on the past. Officially sanctioned programmes, run in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) have gone some way in alleviating the condition of children working in Sialkot's sport goods industry. However, according to unofficial figures, nearly eight million children remain a part of the labour force, with a significant number among them working in hazardous conditions. Government figures acknowledge over three million children are engaged in labour. Some of those facing the toughest conditions of work are children in the mining sector, who also confront physical and sexual abuse during a working day that frequently runs to over 14 hours. BONDED LABOUR Bonded labour on Sindh's agricultural estates and in brick kilns in the Punjab continues, while there are also some disturbing indications that labour in bondage is spreading to farms in the southern Punjab. Many domestic workers too face bondage, or work long hours in conditions resembling slavery, while the absence of a law to protect them remains a pressing problem. Labour unions across the country, including the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF), meanwhile continue their campaign for such laws and against the Industrial Relations Ordinance (IRO) introduced in 2002, which curtailed the rights of labourers to form unions or to agitate for their rights. Labour laws intended to ensure workers receive a minimum wage or receive compensation in the case of injury too remain unimplemented across the country. POVERTY AND THE UNEMPLOYED Even worse than the problems faced by labourers are the problems faced by the unemployed. Official and non-official statistics indicated poverty has risen to a point were nearly 40 percent of the country's population lives below the poverty line. In real terms, this means they often eat only a single meal a day, cannot send their children to school and lack any access to basic healthcare. As a consequence of such arduous conditions, over 500 people across the country committed suicide in 2003. Others took the lives of their children too, unable to watch them suffer starvation and deprivation that appeared to have no end. At least 14 children were killed in 2003 by their parents, who also committed suicide. "I have eight children. None of them go to school, and when I cannot find work for a day, which happens at least 10 days in a month, no one in my family eats. Sometimes my wife tries to boil grass for the youngest children to stave off the pangs of hunger," Munnawar Iqbal, an unemployed labourer in Lahore, told IRIN, admitting that he had contemplated suicide. Unemployment, officially rated at nearly eight percent and unofficially as high as 14 percent, remains a major factor in the growth in poverty. The desperation of people for jobs is shown by the fact that even postgraduates repeatedly applied for jobs as police constables or office clerks. Indeed, poverty, and combined with it a lack of literacy, lie at the heart of many of the country's most pressing rights problems. With less than 50 percent of citizens having access to schools, the lack of education continues to contribute to issues such as unemployment, the poor status of women and the use of children for labour.