Civil society, rights bodies urged to form National Charter for Civic Rights

Fundamental freedoms and national progressive legislations have become hostage to the consideration of national security and religious ideology, said Senator Farhatullah Babar on Thursday.

He was speaking at a conference on “Challenges to Civic Freedoms in Pakistan”, organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research at a local hotel. 

Prominent members of the civil society, human rights activists, trade union leaders, professional groups and public representatives spoke on the occasion.

“All civil society and rights organisations should form a “National Charter for Civic Rights” on the similar pattern of the Charter of Democracy, which had made a progress in the past,” Babar said. 

He regretted that the national media imposes censorship on itself, and the national security paradigm forced the media to tell lies. “When Afghan Taliban chief was killed in Balochistan, the media was forced to say he was killed in Afghanistan,” he said. “When Taliban and the US confirmed, then they told the truth.”

Senator Babar, who belongs to the Pakistan Peoples Party, said that the national security’s definition needed to be changed. In Pakistan, civil and military relationships were tilted towards the security establishment. He proposed that a Parliamentary National Security Committee of both the houses be constituted, which may sit with the security establishment and discuss national issues.

Babar said that military courts were against the fundamental rights and the constitution, and parliament could not extend the tenure of the military courts through legislation.

Justice (Retd.) Ali Nawaz Chowhan, chairman of the National Commission of Human Rights, said that there should be one system of the courts as there was no need for establishing special courts, including military courts, to try civilians’ crimes. The Supreme Court should sit as a full court and all the subordinate courts should come under its supervision, he added.

Chowhan said Pakistan was created on the basis of human rights , but it had become a theocratic state. “The rulers want full powers because absolute and impunity is our legacy,” he said, adding that the citizens needed to assert their democratic values.

The NCHR head said political parties were actually not active in Pakistan; no party had even got a think- tank, except for a religious political party, which may suggest positive political changes. In fact, there is no disciplinary mechanism in political parties, which causes dearth in contribution by saner elements in the political parties, he said.

He said that the NCHR, which was a constitutional body, was facing financial and administrative problems. The NCHR is working for the rights of marginalised sections, including the transgender community. It has prepared reports on major issues like the Thar drought, disappeared persons and on peasants’ protest at Okara Military Farms.

Justice (Retd) Majida Razvi, chairperson of the Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC), said often major laws were imposed without any consultations with the concerned stakeholders. After the passage of the laws, Rules of Business must be made, she added.

“We must see the laws are made in perspective of human and civil rights so any law must reserve and keep the civil liberties in accordance with the law in mind.”

Intolerance had increased in the society, she said. “In the past, I also received threats when we are reviewing the Hudood laws. People used to call me Kafir, giving me death threats,” she said. 

She hoped that the Sindh Assembly would not amend the bill on forced conversion passed last month.

Sorath Thebo, a Sindh Assembly member from the PML-N, said even members of the provincial assembly received threats after the passage of the bill against forced conversion. “Even someone called me on phone in a threatening tone,” she said adding: “We have to come out from fear of these threats. We will continue our struggle for people’s rights.”

Veteran journalist Mazhar Abbas said that the ideologies of political parties had died, which was the reason that trade unions or students unions were not restored in Pakistan. Journalism had become a dangerous profession, he said and

pointed out that between 1947 and 1988, 50 journalists had lost their lives, but since 1988 over 150 journalists had been killed, especially after the introduction of the electronic media. He blamed media houses for putting the lives of journalists in danger.

In an intolerant society, the electronic media was not using caution, Abbas said, adding that the management in TV channels dictated a lot because trade unions were weaker and there were no ethics in newsrooms.

Karamat Ali, executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER),  said that the rulers had come out with a colonial mindset in which people were considered as subjects, and n overwhelming majority of the bureaucracy did not think that they were public servants and accountable to elected representatives. “They still don’t know that every citizen has equal rights and it is the duty of the state to protect the rights of people,” he said.

“We reject encroachment on space provided by the Constitution of Pakistan. It is equal the responsibility of all citizens, public representatives, bureaucrats and government ministers to uphold the Constitution.”

He asked the participants to make a strategy to struggle and assert their constitutional rights in a peaceful manner.

Chairman Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) Muhammad Ali Shah said that in a democratic system the freedom of expression was important, but presently there was no value of freedom of expression for common citizens. Those who speak for rights, they are either killed or kept behind bars, he said.

All civil society organisations should be united to protest against the action against human rights activists, he added.  He said coal power plant in Thar was a dangerous project, which would destroy environment and culture of the desert.

Bushra Khaliq from the Women in Struggle for Empowerment said that many law enforcement agencies were enjoying impunity, and as a result citizens were tortured through systematic persecution. “It is a big question mark on the government.”

She pointed out that in Punjab only service delivery NGOs were allowed to work, but those organisations which worked for the rights of people were being persecuted, and the government had restricted meetings by rights-based organisations. “Many civil society organisations are either banned, harassed and their people are arrested on the pretext of dubious activities.”