In the true Asma Jahangir spirit, this year again, the conference organizers persevered and organized the fourth edition of the conference in Lahore -- and the drama continued.
Azam Tarar resigned as the law minister as sloganeering during the conference apparently upset Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The PM also apologized for the participants’ opinions expressed at a human rights conference.
Last year, this very conference gave his brother Nawaz a chance to address the people when he was banned from all public pulpits. But perhaps the honorable PM thought it wise to follow the instructions of the ‘permanent powers’ to ensure he remains in office.
If the PM and his ministers continue to cover up for the permanent powers and their undemocratic voices, then perhaps they must not be entrusted with the privilege of representing peoples’ voices, interests and welfare.
It is through these representatives that the PECA laws came into being during the Nawaz Sharif’s tenure. I vociferously advocated against the law’s draconian consequences through civil society groups. We met many parliamentarians. We found the MQM parliamentarians to be sympathetic to the cause and Dr Arif Alvi gave some hope that the PTI would defend freedom of expression in parliament.
Last year, this very conference gave his brother Nawaz a chance to address the people when he was banned from all public pulpits. But perhaps the honorable PM thought it wise to follow the instructions of the ‘permanent powers’ to ensure he remains in office.
Pakistani culture has not nurtured modern ideas. Individual rights are challenged in the name of class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and personal opinions. Mostly, the mindset is undemocratic. Therefore, the PM did not hesitate to speak against human rights defenders in a human rights conference.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s reaction was as disappointing. One day he spoke truth to power and the next day he apologized for doing so.
Bilawal has shown on several occasions the tenacity to call out those who have obstructed Pakistan’s progress. Yet, he remains trapped in his class, where he must stay in the good books of those who decide the fate of future leaders. But, it will not be from this class that Pakistan’s democratic struggle will see the light.
Every time an elected representatives acts in this manner, it reaffirms the belief that democracy is a farce in Pakistan. The undermining of democracy has always had its partners in the parliament. But such blatant disregard for optics of democratic behaviour mirrors an acute crisis. The elected peoples’ representatives must redeem themselves as individuals with conscience.
In Pakistan, the battles for democracy are partly against those who do not believe in the idea of parliamentary democracy or human rights. They are part of the big problem. Is this an individual problem or a collective problem? Who is responsible, an individual parliamentarian or the parliament?
Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who spoke at the AJ Conference, stated, “Do not blame the institution but the individuals in the institution.” His statement made me wonder what an institution is? Is it a collection of individuals and if an individual, who is authorized to speak on behalf of the entire group and in destroying the edifice of the institution, who is accountable? The state provides protection to the individual, based on the institution’s status; therefore, the status, protection, privileges and accountability are not individual but collective.
I spoke at the conference in Lahore about the destruction caused by the floods -- people without shelter, food and hope for a better life. Climate change or unprecedented rains have not destroyed the nonexistent clean drinking water supplies, washed away the scanty mud huts or destroyed a handful of schools with no teachers. The social infrastructure across the vast land holdings in Balochistan and Sindh is sinful. It is not climate change that has devastated them but their inability to be resilient citizens of the modern world. This relationship between the elected and the citizen is bonded and exploitative in Pakistan.
Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), spoke briefly about his choice of not converting his social movement into a political party.
The conference provided an opportunity to many to voice their pain and experiences freely. Gilgit Baltistan’s Baba Jan spoke of the disenfranchisement of his people. He said, “When we come to the Supreme Court, the honorable justices say we are not part of Pakistan, they cannot help us. If this is true, then why does the Pakistani administration park itself on our soil? Why are there so many army personnel on my land? Why are our forests being denuded and glaciers and rivers drying up because of Pakistani abuse?”
He further said that Gilgit Baltistan considers nature as divine. “We have always lived in harmony with our forests, glaciers, mountains, and rivers, it is you who have destroyed our habitat - STOP. When we seek justice, we are incarcerated and tortured and silenced”.
I wonder how an empathetic Pakistani citizen can help rectify this injustice.
Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), spoke briefly about his choice of not converting his social movement into a political party. He explained that as a victim of war trauma, he had two choices – “to come out of it by demonstrating nonviolence or join the existing system and maintain the status quo”.
During the session moderated by Arifa Noor on the state of journalism in Pakistan, Hamid Mir spoke about his experiences of being banned and shot. He named presently banned journalists, including Arshad Sharif. He said, “Some may say we have won back our freedom of speech but I still cannot call Manzoor Pashteen to my shows… we continue to be censored. Voices remain muzzled.”
Steven Butler, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Asia Programme Coordinator, said that journalists are frequently threatened, murdered and intimidated in Pakistan -- “The news channels have interference from security establishment, who shape the news and information allowed on air.”
Butler shared a map with the audience comparing Pakistan with the rest of the world. Pakistan was placed in the red zone.
The next morning, we woke up to the murder of Arshad Sharif in Kenya, followed by the foreign minister apologizing, the prime minister chiding the human rights defenders at the conference, and the law minister forced to resign and apologize. Where do we go from here?