No change in Pakistan’s human rights situation: US

The US has claimed that Pakistan rarely took credible measures to pinpoint and punish officials who may have committed human rights abuses.

A US human rights report pointed out that these issues involved torture, extrajudicial killings, unenforced and disappearance.

The report “2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” has been released by the State Department. It said that there were no visible changes in the human rights situation during 2023 in Pakistan.

The significant human rights issues included killings including extrajudicial killings, credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary, torture and cases of cruel, enforced disappearance, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by the government or its agents, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, arbitrary detention and political prisoners.

Serious issues like enforced disappearance, serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence against journalists, unjustified arrests and disappearances of journalists, censorship, criminal defamation laws and laws against blasphemy, serious restrictions on internet freedom, substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including overly restrictive laws on the operation of non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations, restrictions of religious freedom and restrictions on freedom of movement were also included in the report.

The said report also highlighted other problems like serious government restrictions on domestic and international human rights organisations, serious government corruption, extensive gender-based violence, crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of religious, racial and ethnic minorities.

According to the report abuse, violence and social and religious intolerance by militant organisations and other non-state actors, both local and foreign, contributed to a lawlessness culture.