convicts. The December 2014 figures could not be gathered for some of the provinces because the authorities there were not ready to provide that information.
The total population in 32 prisons of Punjab was 49,560 and 32,514 of them were under-trial.
The total population in 11 prisons in Balochistan was 2,980. Of them, 1,214 were under-trial.
Other provinces did not provide prison data. There were 80 HIV positive and 31 AIDS prisoners in Punjab jails. Eleven political activists went missing in Sindh in 2014.
Freedom of movement
The freedom of movement and to chose one’s residence were compromised, directly or indirectly, on account of armed conflict, imposition of curfew or curfew-like conditions , internal displacement, lawlessness or absence of the writ of state in some areas. Cost of travel, poor road infrastructure, attacks on trains or railway tracks, and absence or shortage of means of travel also hindered movement.
Hurdles to the entry of displaced persons from FATA to some of the provinces were noticed, particularly in June and July.
Hundreds of thousands of people in debt bondage remained in conditions of virtual slavery.
Some curbs on citizens’ foreign travel under the exit control list and undue delay in provision of passports to citizens in the country or through Pakistani missions abroad were reported.
Attacks on aircraft and on the Karachi airport, cancellation of flights by some airlines over security concerns and the WHO recommendation regarding travel restrictions on Pakistan due to rising polio cases represented new impediments to travel abroad.
Shia pilgrims’ buses passing through Balochistan and passenger buses and vans plying between Gilgit-Baltistan and the rest of the country had to travel in convoys under security escorts. The State failed to ensure, in many instances, the right of women to move freely in public places, without having to be chaperoned by the male relatives.
Waqar Mustafa, the editor of the “State of Human Rights in 2014”, wrote in the introduction: “However, the year 2014 did throw up the occasional ray of hope too. One of these was women’s active participation in political protests, and adoption of some laws aimed at making the women’s lot easier in the country. At least in some parts of the country, marriage of children younger than 18 years was outlawed.