ISLAMABAD, Feb 4: People in Pakistan are increasingly excluded from the decision-making process and the country is becoming less, not more democratic, as the war on terror continues to trample on human rights.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in its report for the year 2005, which was launched here on Saturday, has highlighted the eroding structure of civil society and democracy in Pakistan and the crimes committed against women, journalists and political rivals.
“There’s a complete secrecy of government. People are not a part of decision-making process. There is militarisation of every part of Pakistan and it is rapidly increasing,” warned Asma Jahangir, HRCP’s chairperson in response to a question at the report’s launching ceremony.
HRCP’s secretary general Syed Iqbal Haider and director I.A. Rehman were also present.
“The population is kept away from not only decision-making, but there is a kind of a curtain around how decisions are made,” Ms Jehangir added.
This was true not only in the context of the so-called battle against terror, with people being kept in the dark about operations against alleged militants, but also in more mundane matters such as visits to jails, she added.
The report says that poverty is the biggest threat. The unabated tide of suicides caused by joblessness or financial desperation last year was only one symptom of this. The increased abdication of the state from its responsibilities, especially in the areas of employment, education and health, aggravated these difficulties, the report noted.
It shows concerns over the military operations in Balochistan and Fata, the sectarian violence in NAs and the missile attack on Damadola village in Bajaur Agency carried out by the US, the so-called ‘champion of democracy’.
The report has recorded a growing number of complaints that HRCP received from journalists about intimidation and attempts to influence what they wrote.
“Media professionals also faced violence from state agencies and arrests under restrictive press laws,” the report observes.
It demands the scrapping of controversial amendments introduced in the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) law, increasing official control over independent electronic media channels and granting sweeping punitive measure to Pemra.
“Restricting journalists from entering Wana, where military operation is going on, is tantamount to denying access to information,” the report notes. It also records cases of political victimisation of opposition parties under the anti-terrorism act.
It is skeptical about the skyrocketing increase in the salaries of superior court judges on the order of the president.
