‘Pakistan, India not much different when it comes to HR violations’

Karachi
Political differences spanning over a period of 67 years may have caused a disconnect between Pakistan and India, but the struggle against human rights violations in both the countries was evident of the fact that it was all the same on either side of the border.
Actively working on human rights issues in India, distinguished poet Vandhna Misra and renowned novelist and former vice chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University Vibhuti Narain Rai shed light over several aspects surrounding human rights activism in their country at a talk organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in collaboration with the Pakistan-India Peoples’ Forum for Peace and Democracy on Friday.
Referring to article 21 of the Indian constitution which stated that it was the State’s responsibility to ensure every citizen had the right to life, Vandhna opined that the clause did not mean people were free to breath in any corner of the country. Instead, she added, it signified the citizens’ prerogative to spend their lives with dignity.
“More than half the population in India is malnourished while several practically live on the streets because the issues are too unimportant for the State to ponder over and provide solutions to,” she added.
Another striking similarity regarding human rights violations between the two countries, she noted, was the fact that a number of people had been abducted, tortured or jailed by police after either being labelled as terrorists or Maoist rebels and that also in the absence of substantial evidence.
She said as the police were the only institution dominating the maintenance of law and order in the country unlike Pakistan, they was nothing less than a mafia as cases of rights violations continued to increase, particularly in Uttar Pradesh.
“The countries also share common ground with respect to the inhumane treatment of women - honour killings being just one example.”
However, the means to further the fight against these violations were far more progressive than in Pakistan as activists all over India linked their struggles with various forms of art including dances, street theatres, paintings etc.
“We can still say a lot and do a lot, but it is indeed a greater risk for activists here [in Pakistan] to raise their voices,” she said while referring to the killing of renowned civil society activist and The Second Floor director Sabeen Mahmud.
Rai, while addressing the audience, said seven decades of unfettered democracy had not only established, but developed institutions in India in comparison to the oft interrupted democratic process in Pakistan.
Referring to the high-handedness of the Indian police, he said both countries had adopted the penal and criminal procedure codes introduced and designed by the British so as to rule the people.
“Every government wants the police force to do its bidding; hence there was no point for the British to establish a friendly police force.”
Speaking about the Indian Supreme Court’s order for the implementation of police reforms, Rai said it was a known fact that reforms would not be carried out but the verdict strengthened the media as well as the judiciary.
Commenting over communal riots, a rather regular occurrence in India, he said the country after being declared secular witnessed a number of Muslims bag important positions such as that of the president, prime minister as well as the chief of army staff but the common man was unable to achieve the sense of security as the changes were very cosmetic.
Prominent intellectual Ghazi Salahuddin and HRCP office-bearer Asad Iqbal Butt also spoke at the event.