The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan annual report for 2005 paints a gloomy picture of people denied basic democratic rights and lacking rudimentary education, housing and healthcare services. Reconstruction difficulties following the tragic earthquake of October 2005 have demonstrated the fragility of Pakistan's basic infrastructure and the logistical difficulties of providing assistance to the poorest communities. The NATO military presence in Afghanistan has added complexity to the global political forces influencing development in Pakistan, already sensitive to the Kashmir dispute with India.
Inadequate attention to poverty in the allocation of national resources may reflect the disenfranchisement of the poor themselves, in contrast to the fully-fledged democracy in neighboring India. Successive governments in Pakistan have abused and tinkered with the country’s constitution, creating a perverse political culture, weak civil society, severe human rights violations and lack of tolerance in society. The people of Pakistan have never tasted the real fruits of democracy, the absence of which has given birth to ethnic and inter-provincial disputes and discord, political feuds and religious hostility.
The current regime typifies the track record. A military coup in 1999 appointed the head of the army, General Pervez Musharraf, as president, with powers to dismiss the elected government. Subsequent gestures towards a return to democracy have been unconvincing. Musharraf himself has extended his presidential term to 2007 and in 2004 reneged on a promise to separate his roles of president and head of the army.
Pakistan is a plural society, a federation of four ethnic provinces Balochistan, North West Frontier, Punjab and Sindh and three administrative areas Azad Kashmir, Ladakh and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Senate and National Assembly. The Senate is a permanent legislative body and symbolises a process of continuity in national affairs. It consists of 87 members. The four Provincial Assemblies, FATA and Federal Capital form its electoral college. The National Assembly has a total membership of 217 elected through adult suffrage.
The main parties in opposition to General Musharraf are the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA). The PPP is a pro-democracy party which sides with international calls for Pakistan to abandon military rule. The MMA is an alliance of "religious parties" backed and sponsored by Saudi Arabia's wahabi or sunni school of thought. The MMA opposes Musharraf because of his relationship with the US and also because of his operations against the Taliban who also belong to the wahabi sect. Political opposition is typically expressed through demonstrations which often become violent.
The rise of General Musharraf brought widespread condemnation from the international community, symbolised by the expulsion of Pakistan from The Commonwealth in 1999. The subsequent return to favour, despite no meaningful concessions to democratic governance, is attributable to one factor – the “war on terror”. As it became clear that the US intended to achieve regime change in neighbouring Afghanistan by force in 2001, Pakistan was faced with a difficult choice – to retain its sympathies towards the Taliban or side with the superpower and prevent an “axis of evil” from stretching uninterrupted from Tehran to Kabul.
Musharraf chose the latter course and, in return, the aid dollars and military hardware flow in profusion, any conditionality focused more on action against terrorism than good governance. The Bush administration has cancelled $1 billion of debt and promised $3 billion over five years; remittances from the Pakistani diaspora in the US have increased exponentially in recent years. Not to be outdone, the European Commission has decided to quadruple its intended aid for Pakistan in the period 2007-2013.
There are however regular protests that Pakistan’s cooperation with the war on terror has not been as wholehearted as it should, especially through 2006 as the insurgency within Afghanistan has forced NATO on the defensive. Accusations that Taliban militia have regrouped inside Pakistan has led to a government decision to lay landmines along the border with Afghanistan, an approach attracting sharp reaction from the UN and civil society organisations which fear it will cause civilian casualties.
Refugee camps along the Afghan border, long filled by Afghans fleeing from the Taliban and war with Russia, have had their numbers swollen further as the US action developed. A census in 2005 revealed a total of 3.0 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The UN Refugee Agency and the Government of Pakistan have announced that all camps will close in 3 years and commenced a registration process to assist eventual repatriation. There are doubts however as to the willingness of many of the refugees to return to the uncertainties of life in Afghanistan.
Another factor influencing Pakistan’s approach to the war against terror may have been the reassurance of a continued even-handed attitude by the US towards the longstanding and bitter dispute with India over Jammu and Kashmir. The dispute, which remains the primary excuse for vast military spending and nuclear sabre-rattling on both sides, has its origins in the 1947 partition which offered a choice to states such as Kashmir to affiliate with either India or Pakistan. Frustrated over hesitation by the Maharaja of Kashmir, the British provisionally acceded Kashmir to the Indian Union pending a free and impartial plebiscite - a promise which is yet to be fulfilled by India who claims that the Maharaja "signed" a controversial document, the Instrument of Accession.
The people of Kashmir and Pakistan, however, have never accepted the Indian claim and the region has been cause of wars between the two bitter rivals in 1948, 1965 and 1971. The frontier dividing Pakistan and India in Kashmir is known as the Line of Control (LoC) or ceasefire line, indicating that a peace settlement remains elusive and that Kashmir is still a flashpoint for South Asia.
However, hostilities have ceased since the development of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in 2003 which included the restoration of road and bus links - and the October 2005 earthquake has further encouraged the two countries to soften their stance. The LoC, which used to be heavily guarded by the militaries of the arch-rivals, now has five points opened on humanitarian basis, allowing the people on both sides of the border to meet. And towards the end of 2006 Musharraf was floating the radical idea that Pakistan might even concede its claim over the disputed region.
Whilst there is this respite on the Indian border, Musharraf's government is in a quagmire of armed conflict with the people of Balochistan province. Struggling for what the Baloch chieftains say are the rights of the province usurped by the capital, private armies are pitted against Pakistani military. Separatist leaders claim the province has been deprived of its due share of the rewards of natural gas and other resources. The 2006 killing of anti-government renegade Nawab Akbar Bugti suggests that Musharraf, whose regime sees a hidden foreign hand behind the turmoil, has given the insurgents a stern warning.
As General Musharraf tightened his grip over power through 2005, the human rights situation in Pakistan remained grim. Domestic violence against women, sectarian strife, arbitrary detention of political opponents and suspects under the new Anti-Terrorism Act, use of the death penalty, intimidation of media, lack of protection for minorities – all are continuing in modern Pakistan. On top of the government’s failure to address these issues, the people are also suffering the havoc wrought by terrorists, killing innocent civilians through suicide bombings.
On the one hand the government uses its might to quell any signs of "resistance", on the other hand religious intolerance has been growing without check, even though Musharraf calls for harmony and enlightened moderation. Attacks by so-called clergymen or mullahs on mixed marathons involving schoolchildren were convincing evidence of growing fundamentalism in the country.
Under international pressure, the government has made a start in introducing effective legislation to end traditions which ignore even the most basic rights of women. In November 2006 parliament passed the Protection of Women bill amid severe criticism from MMA fundamentalists who boycotted the proceedings and threatened to resign. The bill aims to put a stop to the more extreme impact of the controversial Hudood ordinances introduced in 1979 which made it almost impossible for a woman to prove a charge of rape.
Traditions of bonded and child labor have also proved resistant to change, given the continued levels of poverty which underpin their continuity. Official figures suggest that over 3 million children are involved but data is unreliable and civil society groups believe this figure to be greatly understated. Over one million laborers are thought to be bonded to an employer, particularly in brick kilns. The common feature of these and other abuses of civilian rights in Pakistan is the failure of legislation introduced or promised by the government to have any impact.
The most intractable environmental problems in Pakistan are caused by underdevelopment, explosive population growth, poverty and sick governance. The priority awarded to economic growth is such that, even where environmental regulations exist, enforcement has been lax resulting in a wide range of grave environmental problems and a deficient institutional framework.
Unsustainable development has seriously undermined the natural water cycle in Pakistan to the extent that the country may become water-deficient within five years if appropriate action is not taken. Behind the challenge of the overall water supply lies the human problem that only 63% of people have access to clean water and 40% to safe sanitation. Attempts to address the issue with mega-projects such as the controversial Kalabagh dam have run into strong popular objections – the division of water resources between Sindh and Punjab provinces proving to be contentious. The construction of dams has also been responsible for the elimination of potentially protective mangroves, again unchallenged by the authorities despite the devastation of the Asian tsunami. The government's Medium Term Development Framework for 2005-2010 identifies water and sanitation as a key target, promising "water for all". World Bank estimates of the cost of addressing overall water scarcity issues in Pakistan are however astronomic.
Encouraged by the Pakistan government’s lack of political will, commercial logging interests are mercilessly destroying forests and coverage has been reduced to about 5%. The poorest rural communities which depend on forests for fuel and livelihoods are the worst affected.
Government authorities in the Punjab, the most populated but alarmingly polluted province of Pakistan, promise to take measures for curbing air pollution. But environmentalists say things are not expected to change, citing lack of political will as the reason for growing air pollution in Punjab cities, a major cause of premature deaths in Pakistan.
