Pakistan Human Rights Commission highlights violation in PoK, Balochistan
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in its annual report has highlighted a troubling decline in civic freedoms, deteriorating law and order and marked strain on federalism in the country.
In the State of Human Rights in 2024 report released on Wednesday, the HRCP has noted the deteriorating law and order situation due to political repression across the country, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Balochistan.
The report mentions the PoK protestors, who were protesting over high inflation, economic distress triggered by soaring flour prices and electricity tariffs, heavy taxation, electricity shortage, were met with a violent crackdown by authorities, resulting in four deaths — including a police officer— along with mass arrests and allegations of torture.
It also mentions that in May 2024, a protest convoy was led by a group called the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) and strikes were called across multiple parts of PoK such as Samahni, Sehansa, Mirpur, Rawalakot, Khuiratta, Tattapani, and Hattian Bala, over inflation and electricity tariffs.
The demonstrations escalated into a major uprising, culminating in a long march towards Muzaffarabad. As tensions grew, the regional government had called in paramilitary forces and deployed extra police. Police then resorted to teargas shelling, mass arrests and other restrictions which affected people in their homes and mosques after demonstrators pelted stones.
Meanwhile, Balochistan province is witnessing a resurgence of insurgency and unrest.
The report further highlighted that the elections held in February last year were compromised by allegations of electoral manipulation. The government that assumed office subsequently ceded space to undemocratic forces in the form of several hurriedly passed and flawed laws.
According to the report, over 2,500 people were killed in terror incidents in 2024, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan accounting for the majority of such attacks. At least 24 deaths were reported due to vigilante mobs, some of which were connected to allegations of blasphemy in Swat and Sargodha. HRCP chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt highlighted continued state-sanctioned violence in 2024, with at least 379 officially reported new cases of enforced disappearance, two extrajudicial killings of persons suspected of blasphemy and 4,864 staged police encounters in Sindh and Punjab only.
Additionally, over 1,200 people were imprisoned on charges of blasphemy, having been entrapped by far-right groups into sharing allegedly blasphemous content on social media sites. The Ahmadiyya community reported at least six faith-based killings and the desecration of more than 200 graves and worship sites.
The HRCP report comes as Islamabad fears a “military action by India" following the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. Pakistan is also facing internal security challenges, and evolving dynamics in Afghanistan.
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