Extrajudicial killings

On December 19, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) was reported to have concluded after over two years of investigation that the killing of botanist Leonard Co and his two assistants in Leyte in November 2010 “was due to the military’s failure to distinguish civilians from combatants.” The CHR has submitted its report to the Department of […]

Six health lady workers and two male doctors were shot dead by the Taliban. In 24 hours more than 13 health workers were injured including eight ladies workers. One male volunteer in Peshawar died in the hospital after suffering a bullet wound in the head after the deaths of the six ladies. ”While one medical […]

The law enforcement agencies, the local court system and above all the government institutions are failing to protect the lives and properties of religious minorities all around the country. As in previous years, 2012 proved a nightmare for the religious minorities in Pakistan.  People from the Hindu, Dalit, Christian and Ahmadi communities and even the […]

The full report will be available for download at http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2012/ahrc-spr-011-2012.pdf/view In previous annual reports, the Asian Human Rights Commission has documented Sri Lanka’s rapid fall into a dictatorship under the executive presidential system. This process has now been completed. There are violations written into the basic structure of its constitution, which was initially based on Sri […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission expressed grave concern over the present situation in the University of Jaffna. Most students are unable to attend lectures as the whole university is in a state of stalemate. The government has added a “national security” mood to the crisis, rather than taking it as a part of the problem […]

Professor Noam Chomsky is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was educated at the University of Philadelphia and at Harvard University as a Harvard Junior Fellow. He earned his PhD in Linguistics from the University of Philadelphia in 1955. He has […]

Notorious intelligence agencies have started a campaign against the nationalist groups of Sindh province in the effort to divert the national and international pressures on them and to provide intelligence reports on the activities of the religious fundamentalist groups who operate under the patronage of law enforcement agencies. In the past months the Taliban and […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has released its 15-page report on the situation of human rights in the Philippines this year. The report, titled “Strong rights, no remedy,” gave detailed analysis on the absence, if not lack of adequate remedy and redress to any forms of violation of rights in the country’s system of justice. The […]

On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2012, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) publishes its annual report on the State of Human Rights in Indonesia in 2012. The full report is now available for download at http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2012/ahrc-spr-006-2012.pdf  In the middle of 2012, Indonesia had its state of human rights reviewed by […]

The full report is available for download at: http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2012/ahrc-spr-003-2012.pdf/view The World Human Rights Day is being marked in Bangladesh, as it is being observed across the world, with tremendous frustration and hopelessness concerning the possibility to achieve justice from the criminal justice system of the country. Human Rights Day, on December 10, formally reminds the citizens […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day 2012 The full report is available for download at: http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2012/ahrc-spr-008-2012.pdf/view  The PPP-led government under President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Ministers Yousaf Raza Gillani and Raja Pervez Ashraf has made some effort to improve the protection of human rights […]

It is clear by now that the attempted impeachment is being done in a completely lawless manner. The present approach adopted for the inquiry is no different to a committee consisting of a man’s enemies being assigned to conduct a murder trial against him. Regardless of the man’s guilt or innocence, the enemies will ensure […]

In a landmark ruling, a court in Burma has rejected the police version of events that led to the death of a man in their custody, and has opened the door to a charge of murder to be brought against the officers involved. In its findings of 9 November 2012, a copy of which the […]

आज मुझे भी वह अँधेरी सुबह याद आ गयी। 2 और 3 दिसंबर 1984 की दरम्यानी रात, भोपाल के घोडा नक्कास में निवास करते हुए जब हमने भी जहर भरी हवा को लीला था। मैं भोपाल गैस त्रासदी का जिक्र कर रहा हूँ।  दुनिया की सबसे विनाशकारी औद्योगिक त्रासदी; जिसके बारे में आज तक यह […]

Today, the federal Ministry for Human Rights arranged an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss the proposed law against torture and custodial death. The proposed draft of the law was submitted by the Asian Human Rights Commission and Anti Torture Alliance Pakistan, with the consent of the Karachi Bar Association, Karachi Union of Journalists, Karachi Press Club, […]

The Surendranagar firing that killed three Dalit youth on 21 September this year has once again brought to light the concern, that in India, the police do not have adequate training nor the government has necessary resolve to overhaul the police service into one that fits a modern democracy. An affidavit filed by the Gujarat […]

An explosive device was planted in the car of a renowned journalist. It is not known as to whether this was an attempt to assassinate him or merely intimidate him. A right wing journalist by his writings Mr. Hamid Mir, the anchorperson of Geo news channel, has accused some ‘state actors’ and some ‘non state […]

Eighty eight journalists have been killed in Pakistan during last decade out of which 36 were shot dead in target killing. In 2012, ten journalists including one TV channel driver were killed in three provinces, Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of the country as impunity against Pakistani media rises to unacceptable levels. According to the […]

Daily life in Pakistan is today marred by terrorist attacks that range from bombings to shootings and execution-style killings. All these are taking place in an environment where the law enforcement agencies are helpless to intervene. Little in the way of investigation takes place and even when the identities of the perpetrators are known no […]

In her presentation to the United Nations Human Rights Council at the Universal Periodic Review the Foreign Minister, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar painted a rosy picture of the progress that Pakistan has made over the past four years. However, it was what Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar did not talk about that raised the ire of […]