94 th National Management Course SIMULATION EXERCISE-I ³Law and Order and Criminal Justice System´ SYNDICATE-1 CABINET DIVISION¶S COMMITTEE ON PAKISTAN¶S INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON WRIT OF GOVERNMENT AND RULE OF LAW COMPOSITION OF SE-1 Participants NamesDesignation / Assignment1. Mr . SAJJAD Ahmad, DMG, Chairperson Pakistan¶ s Permanent R epresentative to UN Security Council 2. Mr . SAQIB Aleem, DMG Secretary , Home Department, Punjab and Sindh 3. Mr . IZHARul Hassan , ExC. ISI Legal Advisor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs 4. Mr. Zulfiqar Ahmad CHEEMA ,PSP Director, HRC of Pakistan 5. Mr . HASSAN Iqbal , DMG Ex-Hea d of Pakis tan¶s delega tion CEDAW 6. Mr . GULZEB Khan, ExC.PCS (SG)-KP Secretary , Home Department, KP and Baluchistan Faculty Advisor: Mr. Shafiq Hussain Bokhari Date: 17-03-2011
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- Ar ticle 37 (d) ³The state shall ensure inexpensive and expeditions justice´2
Successive governments in Pak istan made attempts to improve the status of women. Zulf iqar Ali
Bhutto¶s per iod is considered to be the star ting point for the women development. But
immediately af ter the military takeover of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, the process of Islamization star ted
and discr iminatory laws against the women were enacted, contrary to the Constitution of
Pak istan. He proposed laws regarding Qisas and Diyat, Islamic Penal laws governing retr i bution
(qisas) and compensation (diyat) in cr imes involving bodily in jury. When the victim was a
women, the amount of diyat was halved3.
Similar ly, Hudood Ordinances and Qanoon-e-Shahadat Order (Law of Evidence
Order) also generated controversies among the international community. According to a 1998
repor t by Amnesty International, more than one-third of all Pak istani women in pr ison were
being held due to having been accused or found guilty of zina4. For the purpose of Hudood
Ordinance and zina, age of matur ity or puber ty or for female was 16 years and for ma le 18years
whichever ear lier. The law declared female sixteen years and male eighteen years eligi ble for
marr iage. Laws for obtaining the national identity card was eighteen years age for male and
female, whereas child could not be put to labor up to the age of f if teen years as per labor laws.
Later governments could not do much to do away with the ³Islamic Discr iminatory
Laws´ against women. Pak istan acceded to convention on the ³Elimination of All Forms of
Discr imination Against Women´ (CEDAW) on February 29, 1996. Pak istan is obliged by itsratif ication of international treaties to ensure respect for women¶s r ights and fundamental
freedom. The convention requires the government ³to take action to eliminate violence against
women as a form of discr imination that inhi bits women¶s ability to en joy r ights and freedom on
a basis of equality with men.5
2 Constitution of Pak istan, 1973
3 Asma Jahangir, ³A Poud of Flesh´, Newsline (Karachi), December 1990, pp. 61-624 htt p://en.wik i pedia.org/wik i/women_ in_pak istan#cite_note_amnesty_noprogress-17 accessed on March 13, 2011
5 Shamshad Ahmed, ³Br idging the Gender Gap´, Dawn, The Internet Edition, May 02, 2005 (copy received from
Another impor tant factor is violence against women, which is an age old practice. It
includes physical, sexual, br ide burning, acid throwing, domestic violence and human k illings.
The key to our social problem regarding the ³betterment and empowerment´ of women in
Pak istan lies in comprehensive ³legislative and budgetary´ packages to close the existing gender
gaps 6 . It is fact that unless existing ³Anti-Women Laws´ are repealed, no new positive
legislation will be so effective. At the same time, gaps between Constitutional
protections/guarantees and existing legislations, policies and programs vis-à-vis women and
children are to be minimized.
While we formulate policies or make strategies to implement laws we come across the
challenges, which are likely to impede the process of implementation. These challenges may
include, pover ty, feudalism, tr i balism, customs and traditions, religious values and some of the
laws also. Secondly, lack of oppor tunities deny access to decision mak ing and policy forums.Lack of access to economic oppor tunities, awareness, education, healthcare, information and
communication especially in rural areas, access to justice system, social protection, social safety
nets are also challenges being faced.
1-2 Child Labor/Abuse:
UN Convention on the R ights of Child (CR C) was adopted by General Assembly on
November 20, 1989. The scope of this Convention extends to persons up to the age of 18.
Pak istan has ratif ied this Convention in 1990. Ar ticle-32 of CRC reads ³State, par ties recognizethe r ight of child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that
is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child¶s education, or to be harmful to the child¶s
health or physical, mental, spir itual, moral or social development.
Child labor is full time work at a very ear ly age, at dangerous workplaces with excessive
work ing hours. Somewhere 500,000 to one million Pak istani children aged from f ive to four teen
now work as full time carpet workers. UNICEF believes that they make upto 90% of the carpet
maker¶s work force7. Children are also employed on other full time work i.e. br ick k ilns, shops,
domestic servants, agr iculture work force and other sectors as general labor force. Children are
also abused one way or the other, which is against the moral values, international laws and
treaties. Figures regarding cr ime against children indicate a pathetic picture.
6 Shamshad Ahmed, ³Br idging the Gender Gap´, Dawn, The Internet Edition, May 02, 2005 (copy received from
author) 7 Jonathan Silvers, ³Child Labor in Pak istan´, The Atlantic Monthly, February, 1996
Mr. Awan, Human Rights and Legal Aid, Express Tribune Feb4, 2011
There are 46 provisions of laws for protection of children . (The Constitution of Islamic R epublic of Pak istan states: ³no child below the age of four teen, shall be engaged in any
factory or mine or in any other hazards employment.´ Also, ³All forms of forced labor and
traff ic in human being is prohi bited.) Pak istan has enacted many laws to safeguard the children
from time to time. Some of the laws are enumerated here under:-
y The Factor ies Act 1934
y The West Pak istan shops and Establishment¶s Ordinance 1969
y The Employment of Children Act 1992
y The Pun jab Compulsory Education Act 1994
Women need to be seen not as ³vulnerable´ and ³passive benef iciar ies´ but as ³active
par tners´ and ³decision makers´. For that implementation of the laws of the land, changing the
mindset shall be a pre-requisite. Similar ly, children are to be protected and developed in
accordance with our laws and customs, because they are our own and nations future.
Implementation of existing laws remain a challenge of state and the sub jects do not see rule of
OBLIGATIONS R EGAR DING HUMAN R IGHTS AND ANALYSIS
Human R ights
The Human Rights Commission of Pak istan has always raised voice for the protection of
fundamental r ights of the people in general and the weaker segments of society in par ticular.
Therefore, through this committee urges the Govt. for its attention to our international
obligations in the realm of Human Rights.
The Govt. of Pak istan has signed and ratif ied the following Covenants / Treaties: -
i) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR ).
ii)
UN Convention against Tor ture and other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1984 (CAT) Date of Signing ± 17 April 2008; Ratification ± 23 June 2010
Domestic Legislation: But af ter signing and ratif ication these Covenants, it becomes
obligatory for the Govt. to evolve effective mechanism to ensure their enforcement. For str ict
enforcement of these Covenants, the violators have to be penalized which can not be ensured
without Domestic legislation. Therefore, domestic legislation must be completed per taining to
all our international commitments. The gap between our commitments and enforcement have to
be f illed.
Women¶s R ights: Proper legislation and str ict enforcement is required to protect the
female children when they are marr ied in lieu of µDiyyat or before attaining the age of puber ty.
Govt. is also facing challenge to protect the poor women from being murdered in the name of
µHonor k illing¶. A woman has the r ight to marry a man of her own choice. But whenever a
woman in KPK or Baluchistan or the rural areas of Pun jab and Sindh exercises this r ight, she is
k illed and the k illers seek immunity in the name of 'grave and sudden provocation'. Infact they
commit this inhumane cr ime with planning and premeditation. This is re-emphasized from
Human Rights Commission point of view.
Minorities: The level of secur ity to the Minor ities is also far from satisfactory. There are
many instances where a person from minor ity community was charged with blasphemy and
sent to jail or k illed. But the facts revealed that the accused had some money dispute with the
complainant. There is no denying the fact the frequency of abuse of Blasphemy Law is on the
r ise. No safeguards have been provided against its misuse. Since the charge is the gravest
offence in this country, where survival of the accused is almost impossi ble, therefore very str ict
standard for lodging F.I.R . and the proof of the case be laid down. And if the accusation is
found to be false and fabr icated, the complainant must be arrested and be made liable for the
similar harsh punishment as in case of mak ing false accusation of adultery. In such cases public
reaction or outrage of ten mentioned by the radical elements is overblown. The Govt. should
facilitate the legal exper ts to invite representatives of religious and religio-political par ties to
educate and sensitize them about Pak istan¶s international obligations and commitments. They
can be convinced and sanity can prevail.
Grave violation of Human R ights: Another grave issue is regarding those persons who
were picked up by law enforcement Agencies from different par ts of the country on f limsy
pretexts or vague accusations. They have not been brought before the cour ts of law. This is also
a blatant violation of human r ights which must be stopped for th-with. The incidents of bondedlabour and child abuse are alarmingly increasing which is a blatant violation of our constitution
and International Laws.
Input from Civil Society:
This is also obligatory for the Govt. that before submitting a repor t to UN Committee
input be sought from the civil society. That should be followed in letter and spir it as the civil
society was involved and consulted before prepar ing repor t for Beijing Conference on Women
r ights in 1995 and also there is ³need to have institutional arrangements to review to suggest measures and also exercise operational author ity built in the system.
Permanent Cell: The HRCP is of the view that a permanent cell be established where
representatives of Federal and Provincial Govts, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human
Rights commission with some other representatives of civil society should have quar ter ly
meetings to review the overall situation of Human Rights Violations and our international
obligation and its operationalization.
The commission also deems it necessary to draw the Govt¶s attention to our
international commitments about the covenants like.
house arrest, besides complying with its mandatory provisions, which was subsequently termed
illegal by the Lahore High Cour t as it was beyond the scope of this resolution.
One can draw one¶s conclusions from the details of UN anti terror ism regime, that Pak istan is
generally in its compliance, but we need to be watchful all the time to avoid any possi bility of itsnegative consequences through any of her acts of omission or commission.
SECTION 4
4.1 CONCLUSION
There are gaps in implementation of obligations. These are impacting wr it of government
and creating law and order situation in the country thus impinging rule of law. The genesis of
obligations rests on mandatory resolutions of United Nations Secur ity Council and other treaties,some of which are mentioned above. The situation has to be taken up on pr ior ity in the wake of
current situation, both for global and domestic reasons. The people who are suffer ing for
absence of required action by state are the most impor tant factor for tak ing up this pr ior ity.
Hence it called for legal, administrative and f inancial resources in coordination with all
concerned. In br ief, following are the concluding points;
� There are gaps in our institutional obligation and operationalization
� These are impacting wr it of government and rule of law
� Children are to be ³protected´ and ³developed´ because they are our and nations future
� Focus on weaker sections of society
� Need to re-vamp the Cr iminal Justice System
� Enforcement mechanism is not effective
� No public sensitization on these ser ious violations
� Poor people become victim of in justice and cultural tyranny
� No harmony among impor tant segments of society
� Implementation of laws is selective and ineffective
� Lack of formal nexus between investigation, prosecution and judiciary
� Manual system of detection has limitations
� Absence of constitutional protection to civil servants results in their mani pulation and