Pakistan is an Islamic republic, in which citizens are able to peacefully change their government, although several million bonded laborers and nomads are excluded from the vote. The government does, however, harasses its political opponents, and it represses the Sindh-based Mohajir Qoumi Movement political party. Government security forces are responsible for serious abuses of human rights, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture of prisoners and detainees. Police and paramilitary forces are unchecked by any serious government effort to reform them or to prosecute those responsible for abuse. Islamic religious zealots discriminate against and persecute religious minorities, basing their activities in part on discriminatory legislation against those religious minorities. The government has proposed changes in the enforcement of the so-called blasphemy law to limit its abuse, but no changes have yet been enacted and abuse continues. In February the Lahore High Court overturned the blasphemy conviction of two Christians. So severe were the threats against them, however, that they fled the country. The government and employers restrict workers' rights significantly. The use of child and bonded labor is widespread in spite of legislation to restrict these practices and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on child labor with the International Labor Organization. Little has been done to improve basic conditions for women and children. Female children continued to fall behind their male counterparts in such measures as levels of health care and education(: Raza, Moosi. 1997)

Pakistan and Human Rights
Pakistan's human rights record remained grim last year, and the situation was worse than at the beginning of the decade, according to a report published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. The report, entitled the State of Human Rights in 1999, expressed deep concern at the continued human-rights violations against women, children, and religious and ethnic minorities. The non-governmental organization sharply criticized the elected governments of the 1990s and those involved in the military takeover last year. (McCarthy, Abigail, 1996) Despite the enormity of the problem, the government, the judges, and the law-makers took a tolerant view of the custom. The report called on the government to finalize and submit its progress report to the United Nations detailing the steps it has taken and future plans to fulfill its commitment to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women. Health, the report said, remained one of the most neglected areas of public-sector concern, with nearly half of the 140 million population, mostly rural, having no access to health-care services. (Moffett, George, 1996) Public expenditure on the health sector was way below 1% of the gross national product, and led to such "absurdities" as an allocation of 80 Pakistan rupees (about US$1.5) per hospital bed per day. State-run hospitals and dispensaries remained beset with customary problems including staff absenteeism, failure of supplies, malpractices, overcrowding, and unseemliness. The number of street children, the report noted, has increased--an issue that cropped up last year when one man, Javed Iqbal, confessed to strangling 100 street children in Lahore, cutting them into pieces, and dissolving the body parts in acid. On March 15, a lower-court judge in Lahore City sentenced Javed to die in the same way as he killed the children. The sentence is that he should be strangled 100 times at Minar-e-Pakistan [a landmark in Lahore]. His body should be cut in 100 pieces and put in acid, as he did with his victims. In court, Iqbal pleaded not guilty and denied his earlier confessions. The judge also condemned Iqbal's accomplice, Sabir, to a similar sentence. However, Pakistan's interior minister, Moinuddin Haider, called the decision strange and expressed the hope that higher courts would look into the sentence. (Byfield, Ted, 1997)

Human Rights and Kashmir Issue
Hopes for reconciliation in 1994 between India and Pakistan did not last long. On January 3rd, after two days of talks in Islamabad between their foreign secretaries, the two countries issued a statement saying that "no progress" had been made because of "basic divergences" over Kashmir, and no more talks were scheduled. The build-up to the talks sharpened the disappointment: many in India, Pakistan and America (whose diplomacy had helped bring the meeting about) saw the first high-level talks for a year and a half as the beginning of a process of reducing tension in the subcontinent. When, in November last year, for the first time since partition in 1947, India proposed a dialogue "over all aspects of the Kashmir dispute", Pakistan's government was in two minds. It had put in a lot of work canvassing support for a United Nations resolution censuring India for offences against human rights in Kashmir. Taking up the offer of talks would mean abandoning the resolution in order to keep things friendly. (Kennedy, Kostya; O'Brien, 1997)

Prodded by the Clinton administration, Pakistan opted for talks. Benazir Bhutto, the prime minister, brushed aside criticism from the opposition for "letting India off the hook" at the UN by claiming that the talks promised to be a "significant step" in the right direction. Officials expected some gesture from India before the talks--such as the release from jail of Kashmiri militants, or a reduction in the number of Indian troops in the state. But no such token came, and as January 1st approached, optimism evaporated. A week before the talks were due, the Indian foreign minister said that Kashmir was "an irrevocable part of India" and called the 1948 UN resolutions for a plebiscite in the area "totally irrelevant". During the talks, both sides reiterated their existing positions on Kashmir. India said it wanted to talk further about other matters--nuclear proliferation and the Siachen glacier and other flashpoints--and is planning to put forward proposals on these in the next few weeks India's government has lost nothing from the talks' failure, but Ms Bhutto has suffered some damage. (Times Canada, 1996) The opposition is successfully portraying her as "soft on India" (for dropping the UN resolution) and a stooge of America (for being edged into the negotiations and getting nothing in return). Neither goes down well in Pakistan. So Ms Bhutto, to restore her position at home, is trying to look extra tough. She is now insisting that several conditions should be met before talks can start up again: Kashmiri political leaders should be released from Indian prisons, the number of Indian soldiers in Kashmir should be reduced, offences against human rights should cease. Pakistan is also threatening to raise the Kashmir issue at international forums in order to embarrass India. The UN Human Rights Convention in Geneva next month will offer a fine opportunity to do just that--and to reduce further the chance of reconciliation in the subcontinent. (Zubrzycki, John, 1996)

Human Rights and Business
It is appalling that foreign investment during the current year has been reduced by 50 per cent. Several companies have started closing operations in Pakistan. Johnson & Johnson is now closing their suture producing plant Ethicon is not breaking even and has been incurring heavy losses (Rs. 15 million monthly) since last several years.( van de Berg, Marsha,1`996) Other companies have refused to produce products that are not economical. For example Glaxo stopped producing thyroxine and angised tablets and several others. Similarly, Gillette Pakistan Ltd. the producer of 7 O'clock blades and razors has already announced to cease the manufacturing operation in Pakistan. The Hubco Power Company (Hubco) served a Preliminary Termination Notice (PTN) on Wapda on August 16. Should Wapda fail to do so, Hubco may terminate the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and seek compensation from the Government of Pakistan. For the moment, neither them is showing any optimism about a possible resolution of a crisis which has dealt a crippling blow to the inflow of foreign investment. Meanwhile, the British Columbia based B.C. Hydro has sold off its shares in the 117 MW Raiwind power projected operated by ABC. Hydro subsidiary, Southern Electric Power Co. (Sepcol). B.C. Hydro says that it has already lost about six million Canadian dollars in the project and was not prepared to invest any more money in the project given the financial instability in the region. (Islam, Shada, 1997)
A summary prepared for a cabinet meeting held in August by the Ministry of Finance and Commerce listed some of the key concerns of investors: unnecessary confrontation with Independent Power Producers (IPPs), inconsistent policies including the introduction of new taxes and an appalling human rights record. (R.J.C... Spectator, 1996) the government's fall out with the IPPs has made many look upon Pakistan as an all too erratic environment to invest in. To a great extent, observers believe, the Chief of the Ehtesab Bureau (EB), Senator Saifur Rehman, is responsible for this both-up. Pakistan's human rights record - not that it inspired. For the more, last year's record fall in equity and foreign direct investments has been largely a result of the uncertainty unleashed by what one businessman described as "bull-headed insanity" -- a pointed reference to the EB's totalitarian tactics. This country was much better off when you regulated industry and business in the '60s, '70s and 80’s. At least then, there was certainty, the rules of the game were much better defined and you did not have a 'bull in a China shop' situation. (Wasif, Syed Ali. 1997)