PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has announced a human rights policy for the province when it is left with just four days in power.

Governments form policies when they come into power, but the PTI government announced one touching upon issues mostly covered in different legislations and all that was needed to be done was the implementation.

The policy may be the first to mention human rights defenders and calls for enactment of specific laws to provide protection to them, but the rest is just a collection of recommendations that look like soft reminders to the very same outgoing government bound by law already to protect rights of the people of the province.

The KP HR policy has been launched at a time when the days of the PTI government in the province are numbered. Amid hasty inaugurations of the under-construction development projects in the province, the launch of a policy also seems just another point-scoring stunt as the electioneering season is about to set in.

The policy calls for giving protection to HR defenders

However, an official of the Human Rights Directorate Akbar Ali Bangash claimed it was not a ‘copy, paste’ kind of policy and formed after consultation. It would be up to the next government whether it owned it or not.

“The government showed its commitment first by setting up a human rights directorate and now through this policy launch too. We hope the next government takes it seriously and implements its recommendations,” said Mr Bangash.

KP Human Rights Policy was announced at a gathering held on Thursday. It has been prepared by the Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights Department in collaboration with UNDP.

“With human rights violations going on every second, a policy recommendation is just not enough,” said Radesh Singh Tony who represents Sikh religious minority hailing from Peshawar.

Amina Durrani, working with a government-run women commission, however, defended the delay in policy formulation by the provincial government, saying policy formulations took time. She said that it was important that for the first time looking at the human rights situation of the province, the policy talked about protection of human rights defenders. She also mentioned that a policy implementation framework was not discussed.

A read of the policy shows that mentioning the international treaties to which Pakistan was a signatory, relevant national and provincial laws already passed by the governments, the policy only is a compilation of recommendations stressing that laws be implemented regarding women, children, transgender, minorities, senior citizens and disabled persons.

Ironically, the very KP law and parliamentary affairs department which had been a visible hurdle to legislation on domestic violence bill for some time, in one of its recommendations for protecting women’s rights recommends the “enactment of legislation declaring domestic violence an offence”.

It also mentions enactment of laws in the province like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Harassment of Women in Workplace Act 2017, but the same government so far has not appointed an ombudsperson to hear complaints of working women.

The policy simply suggests rigorous implementation of existing protective legislation. It stresses for compulsory education of children aged between 5 and 16 years, implementation of anti-corporal punishment laws.

For transgender persons’ rights, the policy recommends appropriate steps to safeguard their rights and raising awareness among government and public with respect to the identity and rights of the transgender. It also suggests local government institutions for education and skill development of transgender persons. It suggests a reliable registration mechanism so that transgender persons could be provided with protection, social services and budgetary allocation by the provincial government.

The policy recommends that minorities and their worship places should be provided protection and interfaith harmony be promoted through developing such a curriculum. They should be provided developmental funds and government assigned quota be implemented.

The policy also calls for financial support to the senior citizens as was ensured through KP Minimum Wages Act 2013. In all public buildings the people with disabilities should be provided access. It also recommends skill development and capacity enhancement trainings for such persons.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2018