ISLAMABAD: The Isla­mabad High Court (IHC) on Friday constituted a commission to ensure civil liberties of prisoners.

Constituted on the complaint of a convict, the commission is headed by federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari and comprises the federal secretaries of interior and health, human right activists Zohra Yousuf and Ghazi Sala­huddin, advocate Zia Awan, former FIA chief Tariq Khosa and the provincial chief secretaries. The secretary of the human rights ministry has been asked to assist the commission.

The court converted the complaint of convict Khadim Hussain into a petition that highlighted the negligence of the executive authorities which had caused damage to the complainant’s eyesight.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah observed that the executive authorities were vested with power and jurisdiction under the Pakistan prison rules and the code of criminal procedure to address the grievances of the prisoners suffering from serious illness.

The court pointed out that the United Nations committee on economic, social and cultural rights had declared health a fundamental right. And the international convention on civil and political rights provides that every human being has the inherent right to life and this right shall be protected by the law.

The court noted that the objective of sentencing somebody to a jail term was to make the convict and others realise what the former had done. The sentence deprives the prisoner of liberty and freedom while limiting some other rights, but with no stretch of the imagination the right to life is restricted or curtailed; rather heavy burden lies on the state to safeguard the right to life of a prisoner as the latter is entirely at its mercy. Thus, the federal government on behalf of the state has a constitutional duty and obligation to respect and enforce international treaties and conventions relating to safeguarding human rights and civil liberties.

The court observed that the condition in prisons across the country raises grave questions over serious violations of human rights and civil liberties and international commitments of the state and the federal government.

Subsequently, the court empowered the commission to exercise authority under the civil procedure code. The commission has been tasked with investigating human right violations and lack of medical facilities in the prisons.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2019