Musharraf has taken a few positive steps in the field of human rights: he set up the joint electorate for minorities, adopted the freedom of information Act and allocated seats for women in the National Assembly. Unfortunately, those few steps do clearly not reflect a genuine political will to promote human rights.
The FIDH recalls that Musharraf took power through a military coup in 1999, and adopted the Provisional Constitutional Order in 1999, which suspended the Constitution, stated that presidential orders would henceforth supersede all other legislation and that the military government could not be challenged in court. A referendum held in April 2002, marred by fraud and coercion, extended his term as President by five years. The October 2002 parliamentary elections were largely recognized as unfair and flawed. Musharraf also seriously weakened the independence of the judiciary, notably through the adoption of the Legal Framework Order (2002) giving power to the President to appoint Supreme Court judges. In spite of that blatant disregard for democratic principles and of the very serious human rights violations occurring in Pakistan, since September 11, Musharraf benefits from the full support of the international community.
After 9/11 Musharraf abandoned Pakistan’s long-held policy of support of the Taleban in Afghanistan, cracked-down on foreign extremist organizations on Pakistani soil and banned many Pakistan-based Kashmiri jihadi groups. However, the regime didn’t move against national extremist groups and didn’t implement the law regulating Madrasas. In spite of commitments he had made, Musharraf didn’t repeal or amend the Blasphemy law, the Hudood laws and the Qisas and Dyat Ordinances, which had been adopted under the pressure of militant religious groups and violate minorities’ rights and women’s rights.
That ambiguity or double-sidedness policy is also used with the media, NGOs and trade unions. In the field of freedom of expression, Musharraf uses a wide array of methods to stifle the journalists, academics and NGOs: harsh legislation; violent tactics by the police, the army and the intelligence services to intimidate or even kill journalists who reported on sensitive issues; virtual impunity granted to religious groups who themselves intimidate journalists; and economic pressure are only but a few of those methods. This results in massive self-censorship from the media.
The case of Khawar Mehdi, who was working with two French journalists in December 2003 on reported Taleban operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan, was arrested a few days later, tortured and released on bail in March 2004. He has been charged under the Anti-terrorist Act and the trial is pending - the FIDH seriously fears that he won’t benefit from a fair trial. This case is significant of the government’s attitude towards individuals viewed as "crossing the line" as to what is acceptable in the press.
The authorities try to control human rights NGOs and to discredit them through the government media. They face an increasing hostility from the government, which regularly labels them as "unpatriotic" or ‘un-Islamic’, thereby opening the door to attacks by fundamentalist and ultra-nationalist groups. "The government tries to control NGOs through various tools - discredit, harsh legislation on freedom of association, restrictions on funding. NGOs working on women rights are especially vulnerable, in particular in the New West Frontier Province, where the local government adopted the Sharia’Act in 2002", said Sidiki Kaba, President of the FIDH.
The Tribal Areas of Pakistan (known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas - FATA, North East of the country) are administered under the Frontier Crimes Regulation, unchanged since 1901. That legal regime deprives the inhabitants of those zones of human rights protections, including the basic democratic institutions (separation of powers, judicial review). In addition, that legislation provides for collective responsibility, meaning that the whole family or village of a fugitive until his surrender or punishment by his own tribe can be arrested. Their houses can even be demolished under that legislation. Foreigners and journalists are prohibited from entering into FATA, especially in the zones where military operations are taking place, thereby severely limiting the flows of news from that region.
The religious minorities (Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis) are increasingly targeted by local and provincial authorities as well as by fundamentalist groups, in total impunity. In addition, the Blasphemy Law is massively and systematically used to curb their freedoms of expression and association.
‘Siding with the US in the ‘war on terror’ and letting simultaneously a free hand to the very religious groups promoting a contrary agenda, Musharraf managed to get all the benefits from 9/11’, concluded Anne-Christine Habbard, from the FIDH.
The FIDH carried out last August an international mission of investigation in Pakistan on freedoms of expression, association and assembly, which will result in the publication of a full report in the coming weeks. It will be available on www.fidh.org and www.hrcp-web.org
For any information, call : Gaël Grilhot : +33-1 43 55 25 18