The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is worried about the lack of law and order, the high rate of violence against women, the safety of journalists, and the slow recovery of communities in northern Sindh that were hit by floods.
A press release sent out on Saturday says that the HRCP said this after a high-profile fact-finding mission to northern Sindh.
The mission was also worried about the amount of political and feudal control over state institutions and agencies, which makes it hard for people to get justice and realise their rights.
HRCP leader Hina Jilani, vice-chair Sindh Qazi Khizer Habib, council member Sadia Bokhari, and senior activist Imdad Chandio were all on the mission. The team went to Ghotki, Kandkhot, Jacobabad, and Larkana. HRCP co-chair Asad Iqbal Butt went with them.
The mission was especially worried about reports that families who lost their homes in last year’s devastating floods have not yet been given money or help to rebuild them. The district commissioner in Qambar-Shahdadkot told the mission that more than 142,000 homes had been destroyed just in this area. Also, the number of destroyed schools has made it hard for children to go to school, and there are few signs that the situation will get better.
The mission was shocked to learn that at least 300 cases of kidnapping for ransom had been reported in Ghotki, with women and children being the main targets. Police reports say that military-grade weapons were used in these cases. These weapons may have come from Balochistan, which calls into question the security of the provincial border. The people who live there have also said that security forces were involved, since there are hundreds of checkpoints along the border.
During their trip to Kandhkot and Jacobabad, which seem to have the highest rate of honour killings in the province, the mission was shocked to learn that victims included girls as young as 10, married women, and even older women. The families of the victims also said that the investigation and court proceedings took too long.
The mission was worried when they heard that journalists in Ghotki, Kandhkot, and Larkana found it hard to report on powerful people because they were afraid of getting death threats, being kidnapped, getting beat up, or having false FIRs filed against them.
