ISLAMABAD: Presenting a grim picture of human rights situation in Pakistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) launched its much-awaited annual report ‘State of the Human Rights in 2012.’
The report terms 2012 a year of challenges for Pakistan where government did not prove ‘equal to the task’ but side by side mentions the completion of the democratically elected government as an unprecedented milestone.
The report also mentions that 2012 saw a state of confrontation between the judiciary and the executive. As a result, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was convicted of contempt of court and lost his office and seat in the National Assembly. His successor barely escaped the same fate and eventually complied with the SC order.
The report says that Pakistan faced 1,577 terrorist attacks in 2012 claiming the lives of 2,050 innocent people and causing injuries to another 3,822.
The report further said at least 2,284 people died in ethnic, sectarian and politically-linked violence in Karachi during the year 2012.
The HRCP received reports of 87 missing people among which 72 were either traced or released whereas 72 dead bodies of individuals who had gone missing in previous months were recovered from Balochistan.
These statistics are just tip of the iceberg as a large number of cases were not reported, said HRCP’s former chairperson Asma Jahangir. HRCP Secretary General I A Rehman also spoke at the launch.
Internews
