Report paints bleak picture of human rights in Pakistan
Karachi: The state of human rights in 2010 remained bleak as thousands of people were killed in violent incidents, deprived of education, health and housing facilities, targeted due to extremism and growing intolerance and displaced due to floods says the annual report, “State of Human Rights in 2010” released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Thursday.
The highlights of the report are:
Law and order
– As many as 12,580 people were murdered, while 581 kidnappings for ransom and 16,977 cases of abduction were also reported.
– There were 37,088 cases of vehicle theft or snatching. Police recovered 60,884 illegal weapons.
– US drones strikes were responsible for 957 extra-legal killings.
– 338 people were killed in police encounters. Only 28 ‘suspects’ were injured and captured alive.
– At least 174 people were rescued from illegal police detention.
– 1,159 people were killed in 67 suicide attacks. The fatalities included 1,041 civilians. 2,542 people were killed and 5,062 injured in terrorist attacks.
– 237 political activists and 301 other civilians were killed in targeted killings in Karachi. 81 people were killed in Lyari gang wars.
– 118 people were killed and 40 injured in 117 targeted killings in Balochistan.
Women
– Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill lapsed because it could not be submitted to the Senate in time.
– Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2010 adopted.
– 791 women were killed in the name of honour.
– 2,903 women were raped
– 719 women committed suicide and 414 attempted suicide but their lives were saved.
Children
– Around 10 million children were affected by the massive floods, 2.5 million of them younger than 5.
– 1,154 juveniles were detained in the prisons across the country.
– 170 juveniles committed suicide across Pakistan and another 76 attempted suicide
Labour
– Over one million child labourers between the ages of 10 to 14 were working in the country.
– At least 2,294 labourers were freed from debt bondage in Sindh alone
– 5.3 million jobs were lost or affected by flooding in Pakistan.
Education
– Pakistan’s literacy rate was recorded at 57% in 2010
– Floods damaged more than 10,000 schools in the country.
– 2010 was declared “national literacy year”, but the budgetary allocation for education for 2010-2011, was a meagre 2percent of the GDP.
– 163 attacks were reported on educational institutions
– Militants killed 22 teachers in Balochistan between January 2008 and October 2010.
– Academic certificates of 54 parliamentarians were declared forged.
Health
– Public sector expenditure on health in 2010 was projected to be 0.54 percent of the GDP, down 27 percent over the previous year.
– At least 4,000 Pakistani doctors accepted jobs abroad, creating a vacuum in many hospitals in Pakistan.
– One woman died every 30 minutes in Pakistan due to pre- neo- or post-natal problems. 1,047,948 cases of tuberculosis were registered in the country. There were over 18 million registered hepatitis patients. Over 1.6 million malaria cases were reported annually. 143 cases of polio were reported in the country. There were more than seven million diabetics and as many as 1.5 million people were blind. There were 150,000 thalassemia patients. Over 7,000 patients were infected with the dengue virus and 31 people died of the disease. 114,000 patients of swine flu were reported in 2010. 97,400 HIV/AIDS cases had been diagnosed, while only 5,000 AIDS patients had been registered.
2,399 people committed suicide in the country and another 1,174 attempted suicide mainly because of stress, domestic disputes, financial problems or unemployment, etc. Law and law-making
– The parliament achieved a signal success by adopting the 18th Amendment Act
– Although 30 Acts were passed in 2010 the government had difficulties in expediting legislation.
Jails and prisoners
– Continued award of death sentence pushed the death row population to around 8,000, with nearly 6,000 death penalty convicts in the Punjab alone.
– The authorised capacity of the country’s 91 prisons was 42,617 persons but 75,586 prisoners were detained there. The number of prisoners at 55 prisons was in excess of sanctioned capacity.
– Of the 12,980 detainees in jails across Sindh, 10,306 were under-trial, while 33,809 of the 51,902 detainees in the prisons of Punjab were under-trial.
– 72 prisoners died in prisons across the country and another 157 were injured.
– Around 7,000 Pakistanis remained jailed in different countries.
– 356 people were sentenced to death, including seven women and one juvenile.
– 34 new cases of enforced disappearance were reported
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
– 99 Ahmedis were killed in faith-based violence.
– At least 64 people were charged under the blasphemy law, including Aasia Bibi, a Christian farmhand. Three men, including two Christian brothers, accused of blasphemy were killed in police custody.
– 500 Hindu families from Balochistan migrated to India because of threats to their lives and security.
– 73 members of religious minority communities committed suicide and 21 attempted to take their own lives.
– 418 people were killed in violence against various Muslim sects. Another 963 were injured.
Freedom of expression
– 20 journalists and media workers lost their lives in attacks and targeted killings.
– By inserting Article 19-A in the constitution through the 18th Amendment, Pakistan formally recognised the citizens’ right to information.
– Journalists faced difficult economic conditions as many employers did not pay their salaries or substantially delayed payment of salaries to them.
Freedom of assembly
In 72 incidents of the use of force against protesters by police, 34 people lost their lives and another 300 suffered injuries.
Political participation
– Less than 50 percent members of the National Assembly actively took part in the proceedings.
– Violence, led to the death of over 750 people in target killings in Karachi alone.
– Women parliamentarians remained the most active legislators, introducing nine private members’ bills in the 3rd parliamentary year.
– The provincial governments did not hold local government elections in 2010,.
Housing
– 30 million people in the country were either homeless or had been accommodated by their relatives.
– More than 50 percent of the urban population lived in slums in the county. Between 600 to 800 slums sheltered about 7.6 million people in Karachi.
– Nearly 1.9 million houses were destroyed or severely damaged in the floods.
– 173 people were killed and 241 injured in collapse of buildings countrywide.
Environment
– 22,000 people in Pakistan lost their lives every year on account of air particulate pollution.
– Solid waste collection agencies only cleared 50 percent of the waste generated.
– Over 400 million gallons of untreated industrial water from Karachi was being discharged into the sea daily.
Refugees
– 109,383 registered Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan, while another 1.6 million registered Afghan refugees remained in Pakistan.
– Nearly 7 million people were forced from their homes in the floods
– There were around 1.3 million conflict-displaced in the country.
– At least 400 children went missing during the flood emergency.
Source: The News
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