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Making Elections Credible

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A Tainted Election Pakistan at the polls

The 8 February 2024 general elections have concluded relatively peacefully, with a reasonable voter turnout of 47 percent. An estimated 60 million people have exercised their right to vote for 265 National Assembly and 590 provincial assembly constituencies. In a positive sign, this election has brought to office 12 women—the highest ever number elected to general seats. However, the perception of having held a smooth, orderly election is as important as making it appear to be a credible exercise. Sadly, elections in this country have suffered from a consistent crisis of integrity. The 2024 election too was preceded by a long period of political turmoil and polarization, punctuated by violence perpetrated by militants, raising doubts as to the certainty and fairness of the polls, alongside hopes that they would usher in sorely needed political and economic stability. Soon after polling began on 8 February, people realized that an internet and cellular services shutdown had occurred across the country; it remained in place until the following morning. This affected not only the polling process, but also how it was reported by the media. With last-minute changes in voters’ polling stations in many cases, people found it difficult to obtain the necessary

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Making Elections Credible

Elections in Pakistan are a contested subject, with the losing side invariably questioning the election’s outcome. The role of undemocratic forces in manipulating the election results has now been established beyond a doubt, putting the integrity of the whole exercise under question. Since elections play a vital role in the strengthening of democracy by letting the people express their will through their votes, this lack of credibility has had serious conse- quences for the country’s political stability. It would not be incorrect to say that unelected forces in Pakistan consider the electoral sys- tem as a mere tool to fulfill the claims of procedural democracy, which effectively does little to change the balance of power in favour of elected people. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has remained committed to the ideals of constitutionalism, democratic governance and the rule of law for decades. Electoral reforms to bring about free and fair elections are hence crucial in fulfilling these ideals. While ac- knowledging that elections everywhere are in need of constant reform, HRCP feels it impera- tive to address serious gaps in Pakistan’s electoral system, not only with regards to the obvious credibility crisis but also pertaining to how the

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Gilgit-Baltistan: The long wait for a constitutional identity

Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), which remains a de facto administrative unit of Pakistan—its citizens deprived of the right to political representation at the level of Parliament—has long been an area of concern for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). The organisation continues to advocate that GB’s people should enjoy the same fundamental rights as all citizens and residents of Pakistan. Accordingly, HRCP carries out high-profile fact-finding missions to GB periodically to assess the state of human rights in the area and recommend to policymakers measures that would alleviate the grievances documented during these missions. To this end, HRCP led a mission to GB during 4–9 June 2022, comprising HRCP Council members Salima Hashmi and Muzaffar Hussain, senior journalist Ghazi Salahuddin, and staff members Israruddin Israr (Gilgit), Zaheera Siraj (Gilgit), and Nadeem Abbas (Islamabad). The aims of the mission were to: – Assess the implications of the political status of GB for the local population. – Determine the extent and impact of curbs on freedom of movement, expression, association, and assembly in the area. – Establish facts concerning the misuse of anti-terrorism laws—especially under Schedule IV of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997—against human rights defenders and political activists. – Assess people’s access to

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A Clarion Call for Climate Justice

The impact of the 2022 floods in Pakistan cannot be understated. According to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), a total of 1,739 lives were lost, 12,867 people were injured and over 33 million people were affected. With a third of the country submerged under water, citizens in 90 districts hit by the calamity were left homeless. Over 1.7 million houses were destroyed by torrential rains, glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and the flooding of the Indus River and its tributaries. The havoc wreaked by these floods have also laid bare the socioeconomic fault lines in Pakistan, exacerbating the effects of runaway inflation, an energy crisis and massive food insecurity. These factors, combined with recurring climate emergencies, such as heatwaves, smog and droughts on an already struggling population, leave little room for relief and rehabilitation. This situation underscores just how integral environmental rights are to the realisation of fundamental human rights, such as the rights to life, health, food, water and sanitation. Without a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, people (particularly vulnerable groups) cannot live at a level commensurate with the minimum standards of human dignity. This is why a new social contract must be envisioned, one rooted

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The Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project

Since late 2020, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has been alarmed by the launch of the mammoth Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project (RUDP) by the Punjab government under the direct supervision of the prime minister. The project has been plagued by myriad controversies since the outset—from the expected damage to the environment to the very real loss of livelihoods for small landowners. Moreover, the involvement of private real estate developers in the reportedly multi-trillion-rupee venture makes the entire exercise even more suspect vis-à-vis official claims that the exercise is for the ‘benefit of the masses.’ Farmers, whose lands the government has begun to take over, are up in arms against forcible evictions and various state pressure tactics, while activists continue to voice their concerns about the project’s environmental cost. With numerous civil society organisations and rights activists stirring into action, HRCP constituted a fact-finding mission to scrutinise the various impacts of the project, most notably violations of human rights, and to present possible mitigation measures to assist landowners as well as other civil society partners. In this regard, a consultation was organised on 26 January 2021, mostly with subject experts, urban planners, environmentalists, lawyers and HRCP members, including

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Mapping Social Movements in Pakistan

The twenty-first century ushered in a new era in social movements globally, with anti-authoritarian and anti-austerity movements like the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street taking centre-stage. The rise of new media technologies helped these movements to mobilise in the online realm when they met with on-ground opposition, and garner support on an international level. Yet, in Pakistan—a country with a turbulent relationship with freedom of expression and movement, where resistance has historically been stifled, and surveillance has been the norm—the rise of large-scale social movements has been slow, albeit steady. The first decade of the twenty-first century featured multiple forms of contentious politics: (i) the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of the judiciary which culminated in a broad political movement against Pervez Musharraf’s military dictatorship; (ii) the nation-wide campaigns against privatisation of public utilities (Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited); (iii) the region- and city-specific peasant and labour mobilisations for agrarian land rights and improved wages; (iv) the struggles of public-sector employees for better service structures, and (v) the ethno-nationalist uprisings in peripheral regions away from central Punjab districts. By and large, these social movements took place in isolation, without a broadbased network among activists and mobilisers which could synthesise the

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A BID FOR CHANGE

The right to freedom of peaceful assembly allows a democratic society to function smoothly by giving every citizen the chance to express their beliefs, convey their grievances and pursue change collectively. This right also facilitates a participatory form of government and is simultaneously dependent on other rights, such as the right to freedom of expression, movement and association. People’s freedom to assemble peacefully is enshrined in Article 16 of Pakistan’s constitution as follows: Every citizen shall have the right to assemble peacefully and without arms, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of public order. This right is also preserved by international law, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of which Pakistan is one of the founding signatories. The UDHR, together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), form the ‘International Bill of Human Rights’ and together enumerate a series of rights, including the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, that call upon state parties to protect, respect and fulfil these rights. Pakistan ratified the ICESCR in 2008 and the ICCPR in 2010, hence undertaking an obligation to bring

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State of Human Rightsin 2021

Although 2021 was the second consecutive year of the Covid-19 pandemic that has raged across so many countries, including Pakistan, it began on a promising note—the world seemed to have found a solution in the form of a vaccine. In Pakistan, too, the vaccination campaign began in March and continued smoothly throughout the year, despite periodic surges in infections owing to new variants of thedisease. For the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), however, it was an exceptionally sad year because of the loss of two formidable colleagues in April. The deaths of vice-chair HRCP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Kamran Arif and former secretary-general I. A. Rehman left a vacuum in the human rights movement that will be very hard to fill. We also lost two Council members, Zaman Khan and Sindhu Mukesh, in the latter part of the year. For HRCP, the right to freedom of expression was the most pressing issue of the year, with a direct bearing on all other rights, including press freedom, freedom of assembly and association, parliamentary supremacy and the state of democracy. Crucial violations such as enforced disappearances and police excesses persisted, while the demands of marginalized sections of society were often undermined by constant

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The Ailing Prisoner

In a country where the health sector in general has not been a priority of successive governments, healthcare for prisoners has fared worse. The prison service in Pakistan is arguably one of the most neglected public sectors. Our criminal justice system, parts of which still exist as ossified remnants of colonial times, imagines prisons asplaces that redress crimes against society at best and not as places that rehabilitate inmates into productive citizens, least of all heal them of the negative impact of committing crime. On top of that, many of Pakistan’s central and district jails are overcrowded, with a significant majority of prisoners being under trial, while their medical facilities are inadequate. There is a constant influx of individuals who are addicted to drugs with precarious health conditions which further burdens the fragile prison healthcaresystem. Former inmates also report abuses of human rights in prisons as, barring some exceptions, the manner in which custodial staff members deal with captive populations across Pakistan is bereft of compassion. Corruption among the prison staff and impunity for their conduct impacts the grant of health facilities; bribery can buy certain privileges while the poor prisoners are deprived of their rightful share. Moreover, the doctors

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LEGISLATION WATCH CELL

Custodial torture is endemic in Pakistan’s criminal justice system and commonly perceived as an unofficially sanctioned component of investigation. It is used routinely to extract evidence—despite this being prohibited under Article 14(2) of the Constitution—and as an alternative means of punishing individuals in custody. In Pakistan, public officials, including law enforcement agencies and security forces, are known to employ torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment against people in their custody, regardless of the victim’s age, gender or health.

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