There is no direct link between the three cases cited below but there is one similarity between them: of human rights violations.
Taking notice of rights of the minorities, the Peshawar High Court ordered that the historic Panj Tirath Hindu temple, located on GT Road, Peshawar, be cleaned. The petitioner’s counsel told the court that the temple has become a garbage-dumping site – which is an utter violation of sanctity of place of worship.
In a case of dissolution of marriage on the basis of husband’s cruelty to wife, the Supreme Court set aside the Peshawar High Court and appellate court decisions for dissolution of a marriage by way of khula, and restored the decree of a family court to dissolve the marriage on the basis of cruelty inflicted by a man on his wife.
The Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the Punjab government against the decision of the service tribunal to promote women teachers under the four-level formula in the education department of Punjab, with the Chief Justice maintaining that under article 25 of the constitution, no one can be discriminated against — and that men and women are subject to the same laws.
Voice.pk, a digital media platform dedicated to investigating, reporting and broadcasting human rights, reported these cases in its daily Rights Watch of December 22, 2022. The digital platform regularly enlists acts of rights violations reported in a day. It is always a harrowing read about abuse, torture, abduction, forced marriages and more.
In terms of incidents of human rights violations, the December 21, 2022 Rights Watch was no different. Incidents of alarming human rights violations were recounted as routine. A man allegedly shot and killed his wife in Haripur, three persons, including two girls, were kidnapped in Rawalpindi, and four arrested in Faisalabad for torturing a woman during ‘faith healing’ in Toba Tek Singh in Punjab.
Pakistan faces a crisis of human rights. According to the Human Rights Watch, Pakistan’s performance in year 2021 was dismal in terms of freedom of expression, attacks on civil society groups, freedom of religion and belief, abuses against women and children, torture in police custody, and rights of transgender persons.
Although over the past few years some progress has been made in enacting laws, especially women-friendly laws, the question still remains how to protect the inherent dignity and equal rights of all people. A key part of the answer lies in building more effective systems that recognise rights and enforce laws.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a tweet on December 22, 2022 questioned: “Can we measure the government’s human rights priorities? Yes. By looking at what it allocates to the National Commission for Human Rights (@nchrofficial), the statutory body set up to steer Pakistan’s course in this sphere.”
Can we measure the government's human rights priorities?🧵
Yes. By looking at what it allocates to the National Commission for Human Rights (@nchrofficial), the statutory body set up to steer Pakistan's course in this sphere.
— Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) December 22, 2022
The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) functions as the country’s overarching national human rights institutions that is expected to intervene in judicial proceedings, review laws from a human rights perspective, develop strategies for human rights protection and promotion, generate knowledge and spread awareness on human rights.
HRCP’s Legislation Watch, issued in December 2022, states that out of the total annual budget of Rs9.5 trillion for the financial year 2022-23, the budget allocated to the Ministry of Human Rights was Rs1.65 billion. “The corresponding portion allocated to the NCHR out of this amount was Rs83.18 million, constituting 5 percent of the ministry’s total budget.”
Under the Paris Principles, an important yardstick of the NCHR’s effectiveness is the funding made available to it by the federal government. HRCP found a 7% increase in the NCHR’s annual budget from last year, but this budget caters only to staffing and operating expenses.
— Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) December 22, 2022
HRCP found a 7 percent increase in the NCHR’s annual budget from 2021, “but this budget caters only to staffing and operating expenses” another tweet by the commission mentions, adding in a subsequent tweet, “There is no special head or budgetary allocation for carrying out the numerous functions entrusted to the @nchrofficial, such as onsite monitoring, fact-finding missions, judicial investigations, supporting the establishment of human rights courts…”
The commission recommends that a dedicated NCHR fund be created so that NCHR can carry out its functions fully, independently, effectively, special budget heads for protecting human rights be added and the rules of business developed by NCHR and submitted to the ministry of human rights be approved.
