Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Senate’s Standing Committee on Human Rights was told on Thursday that 20,649 human rights violation cases were registered by Human Rights Wing of Ministry of Law Justice and Human Rights from 2012 to June 2015.

Officials of HR Wing told the committee, whose meeting was held on Thursday under the chairmanship of Muhammad Javed Abbasi, that 4,848 cases were reported in 2012, 4,907 in 2013, 7,372 in 2014 and 3,522 in first six months of 2015. The committee took strong notice of the action taken on these complains by the HR Wing and directed it to submit details in the next meeting. Abbasi directed National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) chairperson to elaborate the role assigned to the commission and the mechanism to curb human rights violations, in the next meeting.

He also asked for details about vacant posts in departments working under the HR Wing. Senator Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah asked the Wing to furnish details about the bills on women, children and other vulnerable groups proposed by it for legislation during the last three years, details of Act under which the NCHR was established and its mandate and the list of non-governmental organisations working in the country on HR issues. The committee members also raised questions on the ministry’s budget and sought justification for the amount allocated for it in the Public Service Development Project (PSDP) 2015-16.

Later, Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan Secretary Sarwar Khan told the committee that the commission had so far submitted 131 law reform reports and recommendations. Twenty-four of them have been fully implemented and 13 partially implemented, while 86 have not been implemented. Eight recommendations cannot be implemented, he added. The officials said around 33 cases of missing persons, 1,547 cases of murder, 65 cases of extra-judicial killings, 172 cases of targeted killings, 200 cases of rape, 34 cases of domestic violence and four cases of sexual harassment were reported in the said period.