Israel's Permanent Representative to the UN Adi Farjon Tuesday criticized the human rights situation in Pakistan.
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council Farjon said Tel Aviv is "deeply concerned about the overall rights situation in Pakistan where enforced disappearances, torture, crackdown on peaceful protests and violence against religious minorities and other marginalized groups remain prevalent.
"Israel believes that it is essential that Pakistan heeds our recommendations to take all appropriate steps to prevent arbitrary arrests, torture, and other ill-treatment and bring perpetrators of such acts to justice and end the widespread use of the death penalty, especially against children and persons with disabilities," she added, referring to arrests of thousands of opposition party workers from the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Thousands of PTI workers and leaders have been in jail on charges of attacking military installations following Khan's arrest in a corruption case on May 9.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday rejected Israel's criticism of human rights violations in his country. "There is no comparison of Israel's brutalities and human rights violations against Palestinians. They (Israeli forces) have left hundreds of thousands of Palestinian kids orphaned," Sharif said in the capital Islamabad.
Tellingly, annual reports of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have detailed human rights violations in Pakistan since the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan in April 2022.
Amnesty International Report on Human Rights Violations in Pakistan
Amnesty International report of 2022-2023 pointed out grave human rights violations continued, including enforced disappearances, torture, crackdowns on peaceful protests, attacks against journalists and violence against religious minorities and other marginalized groups. A backlash against legal gains in transgender rights led to growing violence against transgender people. The senate passed an act that would criminalize torture by state officials for the first time. Political upheaval led to major uncertainty. An economic crisis severely hampered people's economic rights.
The Amnesty report also said that Pakistani officials continued to use enforced disappearances to target human rights defenders, journalists and people voicing criticism of the authorities. According to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, as of 31 October at least 2,210 cases - likely many more - remained unresolved. Intimidation of families and victims seeking justice frequently continued for years after their loved one was forcibly disappeared.
Pakistani authorities have severely curtailed the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, harassing, arresting and detaining critics and political rivals as well as forcibly dispersing protests and assaulting journalists and others.
The authorities further tightened control of the media. Media workers reported increased coercion, censorship and arrests of journalists.
The Amnesty International report recalled that on April 9, 2022, Imran Khan was ousted as prime minister after a controversial vote of no-confidence in parliament. On April 11, parliament elected Shehbaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), as the new prime minister. Imran Khan and his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), accused the USA and the Pakistan Democratic Movement (a loose coalition of opposition parties) of colluding to remove him, prompting weeks of political unrest during which Imran Khan's supporters protested across the country.
The ousting was widely viewed as Imran Khan falling out of favor with the country's all-powerful military, which was alleged to have supported the move to remove him from power, the Amnesty International report concluded.
HRW report 2023 about Pakistan
At the same time, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report of 2023 detailing the human rights violations in Pakistan in 2022 pointed out that throughout the year, the government continued to control media and curtail dissent. Authorities harassed and at times detained journalists and other members of civil society for criticizing government officials and policies. Violent attacks on members of the media also continued.
Women, religious minorities, and transgender people continued to face violence, discrimination, and persecution, with authorities failing to provide adequate protection or hold perpetrators to account. The government continued to do little to hold law enforcement agencies accountable for torture and other serious abuses.
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