Green rights are a new concept in Pakistan and when I was asked by LEAD-Pakistan to do a case study on green or environmental rights I immediately thought of the case of the Indus Delta. In recent years, the delta has been devastated by sea water intrusion, pollution and the lack of water released below the Kotri Barrage (the last barrage on the River Indus as it makes its way towards the Arabian Sea). As a result, the once freshwater creeks of the delta are now full of seawater; underground aquifers have been tainted and the land has gone barren from salinity. The communities living there are now amongst the poorest of the poor — many have left the area and moved to the slums of Karachi. Still today, there are many engineers and other experts in Pakistan who consider any river water reaching the Arabian Sea to be “a waste”. Don’t these communities in the south, whose lives have been devastated by the increasing diversion of river water upstream, have a right to life? That is what my case study investigated.

Supported by the British High Commission, the study was finally published last week and launched at a local hotel in Islamabad. My case study was only one amongst 14 in total, covering civil and political rights, social and economic rights, reproductive rights and environment rights. The compendium is called ‘Voicing Issues of Victims of Human Rights Violations in Pakistan’ and illustrated with pictures and clever headings, it is an attractive and easy-to-read publication produced by LEAD-Pakistan.

Before the event took place, I got a chance to look at the publication and it begins with personal stories of domestic abuse, misuse of the blasphemy law, attacks against Shias and settling of scores through sawara (a vengeful custom and a heinous crime against women) and karo kari. The case studies were extremely moving and informative at the same time — these are stories we read about in our papers every day and yet I, for one, had no idea how the custom of sawara started or that cases of karo kari are actually declining in Balochistan thanks to increased awareness and the reporting of these cases. I have yet to finish reading the report — there are more stories on eunuchs and the brutality they have to undergo, the exploitation of commercial sex workers, the tragedy of human trafficking, and the cases of missing fishermen who disappear and are imprisoned in Indian jails. There are also harrowing stories about unsafe abortions in Pakistan.

So many violations of human rights take place every day in our society and yet Pakistan is signatory to a number of international conventions, on women’s rights, on child rights, on biodiversity and so on. Somehow signing all these conventions is not leading to action at home — it is not being translated into policy. According to the communiqué issued by LEAD, “There can be no two opinions to the enormous benefits Pakistan will have by putting in place an overarching human rights policy. This policy could delineate strategies and actions for fostering a culture of human rights in the country through launching public campaigns, using the mass media and modifying school curricula”.

The lack of policy on human rights was bemoaned at the launch of the human rights report in Islamabad last week, under the title of ‘A Right Delayed is a Right Denied’. After the welcome note by Ali Sheikh and the address by Chief Guest Aitzaz Ahsan, who called for a change in our mindsets, the event turned into an innovative public awareness seminar. It was innovative because journalist Talat Hussain was invited to host his talk show from the event. A panel of activists comprising Feryal Gauhar (writer and film maker), Dr Sania Nishtar (doctor and journalist), Anees Jillani (senior lawyer) and Zia Ahmad Awan (head of lawyers for human rights and legal aid) were asked to participate in the discussion on the lack of awareness in Pakistan and what can be done about it. Most of these human rights seminars take place in exclusive hotels and only an article or two appears the next day in the papers — this time around, the event was recorded and will be aired this week on Talat Hussain’s TV show so that the outside world can learn from the invaluable discussion.

The discussion lasted almost an hour and touched upon various issues — from poor governance to rampant corruption to the apathy of the ruling class to the lack of rule of law. At the end, each participant was asked to sum up in one or two lines what their recommendations were to improve the human rights situation in Pakistan. According to Feryal Gauhar, who felt that we are depending too much on NGOs to bring about change, “NGOs cannot replace government. NGOs are not the answer — they can only plug leaks. The ship of the State has to sail”. Other panelists agreed that NGOs are dependent on donors and foreign funding and can only provide services — and that the State should not abrogate its responsibility. Anees Jillani recommended that we should try out a system of proportional representation instead of electing the same faces year after year in our parliamentary system. Elections are expensive and many otherwise capable people do not run for public office because of the expense — hence the system has been high-jacked by various mafias and corrupt individuals.

Dr Sania felt that regulation could be a game changer — that there has to be accountability of decision making of public functionaries. “If there is transparent accountability, it could prove to be the entry point to changing the system”. Talat Hussain concluded by stating that “human rights are our collective responsibility as well. If the government doesn’t change then citizens will have to agitate for the betterment of their rights”.