Pakistan

Pakistan: 10 Steps to Improve Human Rights

Published by on August 23, 2013

23 August 2013 Human Rights Watch Pakistan’s new government should urgently address serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif outlining “10 Steps to Improve Human Rights.” The abuses include attacks on religious minorities, disappearances in Balochistan, and impunity for abusive militant groups. In May 2013, Pakistanis went to the polls, effecting an historic transition of power from one democratically elected government to another. Prime Minister Sharif has an important opportunity to create a rights-respecting government that abides by the rule of law and restores the public’s faith in democratic institutions, Read the full article…

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Information Centre Asylum and Migration Briefing Notes

Published by on July 15, 2013

Germany: Federal Office for Migration and Asylum 15 July 2013 Security situation On 25.06.13, several Taliban fighters attacked the presidential palace in Kabul. After explosions and gunfire erupted for more than an hour, the attackers were killed. On 01.07.13, an attack in northern Baghlan province claimed the lives of a district police chief and of three police officers. In the capital Kabul, members of the security forces killed a suicide bomber before he was able to detonate himself in front of the National Directorate of Security NDS. In western Badghis province, Taliban attacked three border checkpoints; twelve insurgents were killed Read the full article…

Pakistan: Freedom in the World 2013

Published by on June 10, 2013

Freedom House 10 June 2013 In 2012, despite ongoing tensions between the civilian government, the military and intelligence agencies, and the judiciary, the government managed to remain in power, albeit with a change in prime minister in June. Societal discrimination and attacks against religious minorities and women, as well as weak rule of law and impunity, remained issues of concern. Journalists, human rights defenders, and humanitarian aid workers faced significant pressure and threats, particularly those whose work focused on sensitive topics such as Pakistan’s blasphemy laws or abuses by security and intelligence agencies. The army’s campaigns against Islamist militants in Read the full article…

Pakistan: COI Compilation

Published by on June 1, 2013

Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD) June 2013 This report serves the specific purpose of collating legally relevant information on conditions in countries of origin pertinent to the assessment of claims for asylum. It is not intended to be a general report on human rights conditions. The report is prepared on the basis of publicly available information, studies and commentaries within a specified time frame. All sources are cited and fully referenced. This report is not, and does not purport to be, either exhaustive with regard to conditions in the country surveyed, or conclusive Read the full article…

Information Centre Asylum and Migration Briefing Notes

Published by on May 27, 2013

Germany: Federal Office for Migration and Asylum 27 May 2013 Afghanistan Bombings in Kabul On 25 May 2013 a Taliban suicide bomber exploded a bomb in front of the interior ministry. Subsequently other fighters tried to take the neighbouring office building that houses the Organisation for Migration (IOM). When the Nepalese IOM guards tried to prevent their entry the attackers entrenched themselves in another building and engaged in an almost ten hour long gunfight with Afghan security forces. The UN informed that at least three IOM staff members and one of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) were injured. Five of Read the full article…

Pakistan: Amnesty International Annual Report 2013

Published by on May 23, 2013

Amnesty International 23 May 2013 The Pakistani Taliban’s assassination attempt on a teenage human rights activist in October underscored the serious risks faced by human rights defenders and journalists in the country. Religious minorities suffered persecution and attacks, with targeted killings by armed groups and religious leaders inciting violence against them. The Armed Forces and armed groups continued to perpetrate abuses in the tribal areas and Balochistan province, including enforced disappearances, abductions, torture and unlawful killings. The courts successfully compelled the authorities to bring a handful of victims of enforced disappearance before them, but failed to bring perpetrators to justice Read the full article…

Pakistan: Election-Related Violence

Published by on April 24, 2013

Amnesty International 24 April 2013 The Pakistani authorities must investigate the wave of attacks and threats on political candidates and election workers, Amnesty International said in an open letter released before the country goes to the polls for general elections on 11 May. The organization also called on all political parties, and candidates to commit to specific measures for improving the country’s human rights situation during their election campaigns. “This has been a particularly deadly election period marked by an alarming surge in attacks and intimidation of political activists and election officials,” Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty International’s Pakistan Researcher, said. Campaigning Read the full article…

Pakistan: US Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2012

Published by on April 19, 2013

United States Department of State 19 April 2013 Summary Pakistan is a federal republic. With the election of the national assembly and the president and head of state Asif Ali Zardari in 2008, democratic rule was restored after years of military government. After the Supreme Court ruled in June that then prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani was ineligible to hold public office, the National Assembly elected Raja Pervez Ashraf of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) as prime minister and head of government by a majority vote, following negotiations between the ruling and opposition coalitions. The PPP and its federal Read the full article…

Pakistan: Fighting in Tirah Valley displaces 40,000 people

Published by on April 1, 2013

IRIN Asia 1st April 2013 Around 40,000 residents of Pakistan’s Tirah Valley, close to the border with Afghanistan, have fled their homes after renewed fighting in the last few weeks, according to the Disaster Management Authority in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FDMA). Most of the refugees from the Khyber Agency are heading towards Kohat, Hangu and Peshawar districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province or to the Kurram Agency in the tribal belt. “My wife, my elderly mother and my two brothers walked for over 14 hours to reach safety,” said Abdullah Khan, 30. He is now staying with relatives Read the full article…