As Pakistan has been under intense pressure from several counties over various issues, an annual report by the Independent Pakistan Human Rights Commission gave the country a “failing grade” on human rights.
The 2020 annual report by the Independent Pakistan Human Rights Commission has given the country a “failing grade” on human rights.
The 264 page report accused the security forces in Pakistan of failing to protect the vulnerable including the religious minorities who are already a victim of forced religious conversions.
“However, the buck doesn’t stop at the domestic front, as Pakistan has gained notoriety across the world for silencing dissidents who fled the country after receiving threats galore. ISI’s global Spy Ring has mastered the art of zeroing in on the targets, largely in Kashmir and putting them to sword in a merciless and inhumane manner. Even the restrictions put in last year due to COVID-19 couldn’t stop the Pakistan Army from killing its prey,” a security expert said.
Killings in Sindh and Balochistan
According to various reports, Pakistan has failed to stop the killing of innocent people.
While Arif Wazir was a leading voice of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, Sajjad Hussein, Ihsan Baloch and Shahdad Baloch were fighting against the injustice meted out to Balochistan.
The brutal murder of reputed human rights activist, Sabeen mahmud in 2015 in Karachi is another grim reminder how independent thinkers and voices of freedom are treated in a country cited as the most dangerous place in the world.
After being kidnapped by ISI sleuths, Sajjad Hussein, the editor of “Balochistan Times” was found dead in Fyris river in Sweden in May 2020 where he lived since 2017. The dust had not settled on his horrific murder that another prominent Baloch Human Rights activist, this time a woman, Karima Baloch was found dead in mysterious circumstances in Toronto, Canada in 2020. The similarity in both killings was evident as they were first kidnapped and subsequently dumped in open spaces, to create an impression of suicide. The COVID-19 pandemic worked in their favour as the government machinery in both the countries was preoccupied. Moreover, the intelligence agencies in Sweden and Canada showed extreme reluctance in naming and nabbing the killers.
Expressing simmering discontentment on the barbaric murder of Karima Baloch, European Foundation for South Asian Studies—a European think tank—rapped global multi lateral agencies for failing to stop the unfortunate killing of Pakistani dissidents across the world.
Untold stories include those of Haider Shah Rizvi, an ardent advocate of the political and economic rights of the Gilgit-Baltistan region, who met his maker in the Chilas jail; Arif Shahid, Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir All Parties National Alliance who was shot in the neck by Pakistani agents at the gate of his home in Rawalpindi in May 2013; Ali Murtaza, who was picked up and tortured to death by the Pakistan Army in Feb 2013 believing him to be an Indian spy; Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir National Student Federation, Faheem Akram and a member leader, Arshad Billu who were also murdered by Pakistani Government agents. Needless to say, these agents were never identified or tracked.
The impunity enjoyed by militants in Kashmir is so deep-rooted that assassination of Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq Shah, Abdul Ghani Lone, Qazi Yasir, Jama’ati Ahli-Hadees president, Moulana Showkat, reputed journalist, Shujaat Bukhari and hundreds of other Kashmiri activists was carried out effortlessly.
