IN Pakistan’s fraught landscape of human rights infringements, misery hangs in the air. What makes this year’s theme for World Human Rights Day, ‘our rights, our future, right now’, more poignant is the state of justice and equality that is worsening by the day. Amid endless woes — the stifling curbs on free speech, enforced disappearances, the millions of out-of-school children, the climate crisis and its deleterious effects — it is the sheer scale of political vendetta that stands out as reflected in the large numbers of political activists in custody. The ransacking of homes, harassment of families, and arrests of politicians and political workers on allegations of ‘terror’ and anti-state activities — with scores jailed for extended periods, and without fair trial — violate democratic principles; they are reminders of past dictatorships. Age and health are no consideration as apparent in the case of Dr Yasmin Rashid, a septuagenarian political worker who is a cancer survivor. This political victimisation is an indictment of the ruling regime, which has been ineffectual in upholding the rule of law and the rights and dignity of Pakistani citizens. That these incarcerations are not listed in verified statistics is concerning and is a gauge of a dark time in our political journey.

Another blot that is set to grow darker is the state’s digital rights record. As the HRCP correctly points out in a press release to mark Human Rights Day, “Tacit censorship has given way to more direct measures, particularly in the digital sphere, with increasingly stringent regulations and bans on social media platforms. ... The state must prioritise people’s right to decent work and understand that beyond fair wages and collective bargaining, this right intersects with the right to connectivity for gig workers... .” Indeed, one international study shows that in October, out of 111 countries reviewed, Pakistan was ranked 100 for its slow mobile and broadband internet speed, which severely compromised freedom of expression and the right to work. This picture should not be allowed to obscure the other disturbing realities: the vulnerability of religious minorities as well as sections of the general population, including women and children, who are routinely subjected to physical and emotional abuse. The negligible application of the laws and abysmal conviction rates confirm the need for a rights regime that goes beyond paying lip service to fundamental liberties.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2024