Islam and Human Rights
Pakistan has been on the road to democracy since its independence. As in all countries worldwide, this road has been difficult and met with many obstacles. Pakistan has endured several periods of military dictatorship throughout its history, which resulted at times in massive violations of human rights. The perceptions of different groups in the society of not being treated on an equal footing with others created frustrations and demands which were often responded to through violent means and further inequalities....
For the Muslim community there is nothing one can find in the Quran to deny such an equitable, just and compassionate moral procedure undertaken by the State within its legal duties فَرِيْضَۃَمِنَاللہ on behalf of all, as a gift of service عَدلْ بِل الْحسَانْ.
There are various other practical factors involved in such issues such as Health facilities, family finances and State resources etcetera; which are beyond the scope here……But since, Life is sacrosanct it must be kept with dignity for the living and that must be the sole criterion --for it to be taken away except for truth الَا بِلْحَقِ17-33
Strength, determination and vision are the ingredients to make the impossible, possible. Usually transgenders in a society scrapes a living together through dancing, singing and begging on the mean streets of metropolitans. People tolerate them due to beliefs that they can give blessings towards a happy and successful life and equally the threat that they may curse those who treat them badly....
The high suicide rate, especially among blue-collar workers, in West Asia must push the government to explore labour-friendly solutions. Among other factors, working conditions tend to be harsh especially if you are a construction worker. Some unscrupulous employers (and not all) delay or don’t pay wages on time, physically abuse workers, retain passports to restrict labour mobility....
... In several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, for instance, no religious minority can even build their places of worship. And this when not only international conventions to which they are signatories, but even the religion they claim as their own, Islam, fully stands for minority rights. More than any other country Pakistan seems to be suffering from an epidemic of minority bashing. It is time the UN Human Rights Council reminded these countries to respect their own signatures on the UN conventions, if they cannot follow their own religion.
This is not only giving these Muslim-majority countries, but our religion, Islam itself a bad image, leading to fear of Islam in the minds of many non-Muslims around the world. I would like to bring to the notice of representatives from the world community that our religion, Islam, stands fully for protecting the rights of the practitioners of all religions. Indeed, the Holy Quran, while giving Muslims permission for the first time to defend themselves with arms, 13 years after the advent of Islam, asked them to do so in order to protect religious freedom per se, religious freedom of Jews, Christians, Hindus and Muslims, not just the religious freedom of Muslims.
The Quran said in Chapter 22, verse 40: “And had it not been that Allah checks one set of people with another, the monasteries and churches, the synagogues and the mosques, in which His praise is abundantly celebrated would have been utterly destroyed. Clearly this makes it imperative as a religious duty on the part of Muslims to protect by whatever means available to them the rights of religious groups to build and worship God in their churches, synagogues, monasteries, temples, mosques. In Saudi Arabia, Taliban-controlled areas in Pakistan and Boko Haram controlled zones in Nigeria, for instance, it is impossible for religious or sectarian minorities to even build their places of worship, not to speak of practising their religions freely. The verse from Quran quoted above, makes it imperative on Muslims, in my view, to struggle to the best of their ability and resources, to change this situation. At the very least we should try and convince the authorities in these areas who claim to be Muslim to follow the Quran in letter and spirit and stop adding to the Islamophobia already prevailing in the world....
In 1948, Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights made education a ‘right’ for all, and bound its signatories to make primary education free and compulsory for all member states of the United Nations. Article 25A reads: “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.” Why this long delay? …
People of Jammu and Kashmir need to understand that the Kashmir dispute has lost its importance in the UN, because of non implementation of the UNCIP Resolutions, and Pakistani governments were the main hurdle in that. Mehran Baloch, while talking on this subject said his people were being killed; and they have no option but to fight for their independence. He said to save life, dignity and honour of his people; he will even welcome help from swine. …
Pakistan has signed convention of civil and political rights and protocol on religious freedom and freedom of thoughts, but the practice of the State and even the laws that have been promulgated there are completely contradictory to the letter and spirit of these conventions. For instance, the 1973 constitution of Pakistan declares “Ahmadis” as non-Muslims in clause 295C. This article is specifically directed against the Ahmadi sect. No wonder Ahmadis are under attack since that article has been incorporated in the book of law. Anyone accused under this law is not given right to a fair trial. Same is the fate of Shia minorities in that country. They are constantly under attack by extremists of the majority Sunni sects. ....
Pervez
Hoodbhoy, Professor of Qaaid e Azam University Islamabad, in his article, ‘Is
Rohrabacher wrong on Balochistan, wrote: 'Pakistan has also long criticised
India — and justly so — for its human rights abuses. But more people are dying
in Balochistan today than in Kashmir. For all their brutality against
stone-throwing Kashmiri boys, the Indians have not yet used helicopter gunships
and fighter jets against Kashmiris. Pakistan, on the other hand, uses airpower
as a matter of course in Balochistan and Fata. …
These
ID Cards issued by government of Pakistan do not give us rights but death. This
is Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the then Prime Minister of Pakistan who introduced
sectarian violence in 1971 to divide the people on Shia Sunni line, when the
people had broken Gilgit Jail to free their political leaders. If USA, Israel
or India is involved, what some agency stooges say, then why the government of Pakistan
and agencies do not present any proof, so the foreign killers are caught. …
Following
a lengthy discussion and debate on the rights of the child at the UN Human
Rights Council in Geneva today (9 March 2012), IHEU main representative Roy
Brown raised two issues that had gone unmentioned during the several hours of
debate: the problems faced by African children accused of witchcraft by
evangelical Christian preachers, and the failure of the Holy See to honour its
obligations to the world’s children under the Convention of the Rights of the
Child. …
Many States have much to do in improving public policy regarding sexual orientation, and there is evidently a huge gap in knowledge and understanding of homosexuality and the transgendered among both the public and governments. Statements such as that recently heard here that homosexuals threaten the future of the human race do no credit whatsoever to a member state of this Council. …
ONE
wonders when the agony of Balochistan — and the rest of Pakistan — will end.
This country of ours seems to have attracted the evil eye. The break-up of
missing persons shows that such violation of human rights is not confined to
the unfortunate Baloch only but also includes other ethnicities and provinces
of Pakistan. …
The announcement of establishing the OIC Independent Permanent Human
Rights Commission at the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) in
Astana, Kazakhstan in June 2011 is a milestone achievement that is part of a
process for restructuring the OIC, which began in 2005 at the Extraordinary
Summit in Makkah. The commission is launching its activities in a highly
charged period of rising Islamophobia. ...
There should be no question in any sound mind that what is being perpetrated for the sake of world peace in Afghanistan is nonetheless applicable under the context of the Guantanamo case. What has been documented by the Kabul justice commission report is in effect a form of psychological torture and a blatant affront to the values of all freedom everywhere. What the US considers as a military necessity continues to incite the reproach of political hypocrisy, unnecessary opposition, undermining America’s attempts to combat terrorism –if one is to reason that counterterrorism is the sole reason for a Middle East occupation. -- Tracy E. Tomlinson