KARACHI: Members of civil society on Tuesday highlighted ‘grave’ human rights problems pertaining to continued enforced disappearances, gender-based violence, labour rights and rights of religious minorities and called on the government to protect and uphold the fundamental rights of the most vulnerable and excluded groups and communities in the country.

The call came from rights activists, academics, labour leaders and others at a conference to mark Human Rights Day here at the Karachi Press Club.

The event was organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

HRCP chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt announced that there was a Section 144 imposed in District South to stop people from observing Universal Human Rights Day, which resulted in chants of “Shame ... shame” from the packed to capacity hall. He then remembered how the roads were blocked and people were openly beaten on the roads during the recent Rawadari March.

On Human Rights Day, govt urged to respect freedom of expression

“The state only dictates. It is not interested in dialogue,” he said.

He also spoke about the eyewash created by the state about its doing great economically. “How is the stock exchange doing well without any new industry?” He asked.

“The state is telling some companies to buy stock from some other companies to make it look like business is booming here. It is not. It is all a lie created by the state because if it were true there would be no inflation, there would be no delay in paying people their salaries. We are being fooled,” he pointed out.

“Our labour force are like prisoners who cannot even demand salary increases as things become expensive and utility bills become high because these people are mostly third-party contractual employees, who don’t have much say as they are kept under the thumb in the absence of trade unions,” he added.

Mahnaz Rahman, director of Aurat Foundation, said that the state doesn’t seem to care about the needs of the people. “It is more inclined towards shrinking our space,” she said, before counting out some of the problems. “There are conflicts here due to which children miss school. Women are stopped from working due to egos and biases. There is child labour, there are issues due to climate change. There are wrongdoings all around us. We all need equal protection from the law. But are we getting it?” She asked.

Author and academic Dr Tauseef Ahmed Khan spoke about the limited media space. “We need freedom of the press to highlight the ills in our society but here the media is pressured and controlled by the state,” he said.

“Our internet is slow and hindered. Social media here remains affected due to this. Any voice which has a complaint against the state is throttled or strangled,” he said.

“The print media is also not doing well. There are only a few newspapers here which are able to pay salaries to their employees on time. There are grey areas in the reporting of problems in specific areas. As the print media is being regulated, there is less investigative reporting. The country is also said to be dangerous for reporters,” he said.

“The electronic media is even worse than print as its narrative is also controlled. That’s exactly why you get to see similar stories on all channels,” he said, adding that the media needs to question things and report objectively, which it is not allowed to do.

Labour leader Qamar ul Hassan lamented the fact that there were no proper statistics available on the labour force in Pakistan.

“According to government statistics, we have a workforce of 80 million of whom 65 per cent are rural and 35 per cent urban. Of them 15 million are registered with the EOBI [Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution]. So our welfare laws are not benefiting our labour in an informal economy,” he pointed out. “The wages are low and working hours are long. The minimum wage of 37,000 rupees is also not for every worker here,” he added.

Writer and political activist Jami Chandio pointed to the scarcity of water issues in the country. “People who live at the tail of a river have the greatest right to its water,” he said. “The river doesn’t discriminate but we build barrages and dams upstream to control its flow,” he said.

Representing religious minorities, specifically the Hindu community in Pakistan, Pushpa Kumari said that from 1947 to 2018, Hindu marriages were not even registered here. “Then in 2018, the Hindu Marriage Bill brought us some respite,” she said.

She also said that here there is also a quota system for minorities but it doesn’t go above the fourth grade. “So despite us getting a government job through the quota system, we cannot dream of going above the position of a sweeper,” she pointed out.

“Extremism is also growing in Pakistan, making us feel unsafe as mob attacks increase. There are abductions and forced conversions. In school curricula, we are mentioned as ‘Kafirs’,” she said. “All these things increase our migration to other lands,” she added.

Sammi Dean Baloch, a leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, spoke about her life after her father went missing over 15 years ago. “We don’t know what outings or picnics are. We only go out for protests,” she said. “But raising our voices against the state’s questionable policies earns us labels such as ‘traitors’ and ‘enemies of the state’. Still we are humans with human rights. But here the police don’t support us. The courts put us off and give dates that are followed by further dates. We are called proxies of foreign-funded agendas,” she said.

Speaking about how her father was picked in 2017, human rights defender from Sindh, Sorath Lohar, said that whoever raises their voice for justice, they are seen as ‘enemy’.

“But we will not compromise,” she said.

HRCP Council member Sadia Baloch, HRCP Sindh vice-chair Qazi Khizar Habib and young activist Nida Tanweer also spoke.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2024