LAHORE, Sept 6: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has questioned the grounds on which the Commonwealth Ministerial Group (CWMAG) restored Pakistan's membership in May this year observing that decision is misconceived because transfer of power to a civilian administration has not taken place and the regime has institutionalized the role of military in government.
A detailed report on Pakistan sent to the Commonwealth Secretariat in London on Monday, the HRCP has said that the CWMAG decision had lowered the internationally-accepted standards and norms of democracy and hurt the democratic aspiration of the people of Pakistan.
In a renewed appeal, the rights body has asked the Commonwealth to closely monitor human rights situation in the country and take afresh an appropriate decision to ensure that the citizens' basic freedom, which remains under threat, is protected.
The HRCP report, which it said was compiled on the basis of information drawn from domestic and international organizations like the Amnesty International, the European Union and the United Nations, said that rights groups, bar associations and opposition political parties remained concerned about the state of democracy in Pakistan because the regime had made the transfer of power to a civilian administration a far cry from and fundamental freedoms and human rights, a strong indicator of a functioning democracy, continued to be suppressed.
Harassment of the opposition political parties, suppression of press freedom, curbs on elected assemblies, interference in the working of political organizations and tampering with electoral results were some of the examples of continued restraints on basic democratic liberties, the HRCP report added.
The report said that Gen Pervez Musahharf's regime inducted no less than 1,027 army, navy and air force personnel into the administration up to 2003. They were holding key posts in the bureaucracy, corporations and each and every government department, including education.
Vice-chancellors of at least two universities were army officers, the HRCP report said. The mass scale induction of armed forces personnel in the civilian administration had led to an almost complete sway of the army over the civilian setup, which spoke of the state of human rights situation and militarizing Pakistan.
The report contended that all electoral measures since 2002, including referendum and general elections, were the result of massively rigging and vast manipulation of the constitution which precluded the possibility of the transfer of power to a civilian government.
It said that Gen Pervez Musharraf in his capacity as the chief executive and president continued to pass orders and enact ordinances and that subverted the powers of parliament. The creation of a military-dominated National Security Council further eroded the sovereignty of parliament.
As many as 29 amendments were made to the constitution under the Legal Framework Order (LFO) which gave the president sweeping powers, including the dissolution of assemblies, legitimizing military's role in political affairs.
The constitutionalizing of the LFO, according to the HRCP report, was opposed by all mainstream political parties. It was only supported by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, a pro-government alliance of religious organizations, which was later rewarded by getting its man appointed as the leader of the opposition although the MMA was only one-third of the opposition.
The HRCP gave details of the referendum and general election and said they were deeply flawed and rigged before and after thorough changes in election laws and appointment of Justice Irshad Hasan Khan (rtd) as the Chief Election Commissioner, an office dished out to him for legitimizing the military take over as the chief justice of Pakistan.
Major opposition parties, the PPP and the PML-N, were mainly targeted and their leadership prevented from having a political and electoral role. The HRCP dealt at length with the weakening of the judiciary, muzzling of the press freedom, harassment of opposition political parties, erosion of political and constitutional authority and subverting parliament in the 25-page report and concluded that the CWMAG decision was politically motivated rather than a realistic appraisal of the situation in Pakistan.