The HRCP’s flagship annual report “State of Human Rights in 2022, released on April 26, 2023, has said that the conditions have reached ‘alarming’ proportions on all counts – treatment of religious and ethnic minorities, the disappearance of people wanted by the state, forced marriages and misuse of the draconian blasphemy law.

The HRCP does not directly criticise the way various institutions of the state – the armed forces, the legislature, the judiciary, the election commission, the bureaucracy – and the media have worked at cross-purposes, poaching and challenging one another’s turf and conducting themselves at times before the public and on the streets.

“Both the incumbent and previous governments failed to respect the supremacy of Parliament, while tussles among the legislature, executive and judiciary undermined institutional credibility,” HRCP vice president Hina Jilani said.

The rights watchdog has only touched upon the economic turmoil affecting the public, especially the 40 per cent inflation during observance of the holy Ramadan, culminating in a bleak Eid-ul-Fitr last week.

The report notes that political victimisation continued throughout the year, with colonial-era sedition laws being weaponized to stifle dissent. “Dozens of journalists and opposition politicians were arrested, with ensuing claims of custodial torture—ironically in the same year that the Parliament passed a bill criminalising the use of torture.”

The commission noted that the “agitation that followed the successful vote of no-confidence against former prime minister Imran Khan saw law enforcement personnel clash with protesters in various parts of the country, with the right to freedom of assembly being violated but also abused.”

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While the state’s institutions squabbled, the year saw an alarming resurgence in terror attacks—the highest in five years, with 533 lives lost. Despite citizens’ warnings that such developments were imminent, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the state continued to fumble in addressing militancy.

“HRCP also notes an uptick in enforced disappearances, particularly in Balochistan, with 2,210 reported cases remaining unresolved even as a bill criminalising the act was passed by the National Assembly.”

It noted with regret that “as climate change-induced floods ravaged much of the country, relief and rehabilitation for over 33 million affected persons fell woefully short.”

“This lacklustre response has underscored the need for empowered, well- resourced local governments in every province and territory,” the HRCP said.

The ‘escalating’ threats to the freedom of religion or belief “remained a grave concern. While the number of police reports on blasphemy charges fell, the incidence of mob lynching appears to have risen.”

While a Sri Lankan factory manager was lynched and burnt to death last year, a Chinese supervisor last week escaped lynching and death from irate workers who, when sought to be disciplined at work, hurled the blasphemy charge at the victim.

Of the minorities, the Ahmadiyya community came under particular threat, with several places of worship and over 90 graves desecrated, primarily in Punjab, the HRCP noted. Reports have said that the Ahmadiyya are spied on from neighbouring buildings to detect any Islamic practice to victimize them.

Detailing violence against women, the commission said that it “continued unabated, with at least 4,226 instances of rape and gang-rape compounded by an abysmally low conviction rate for perpetrators.”

Additionally, the scale of violence and discrimination against trans persons— the theme of this edition of the report—was compounded by the conservative backlash against the hard-won Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018.

In a year that began to see the country’s economic situation unravel, the report notes that the rights of workers and peasants were sorely neglected. Although the minimum wage was increased, the state has yet to acknowledge that this falls below the threshold of a living wage.

Additionally, while around 1,200 bonded labourers were freed in Sindh, the district vigilance committees constituted in 2022 remained largely dysfunctional. The death toll in the country’s mines also remained very high, at 90 workers. HRCP demanded immediate action by the state on these issues if it is to move towards a pro-people approach to politics, law and governance.