ISLAMABAD: An international rights organization said on Thursday authorities in Pakistan tried to stifle dissent by imposing controls on media and harassing journalists while failing to hold law enforcement officials accountable for misuse of authority.
The annual world report compiled by Human Rights Watch (HRW) gave an overview of last year’s events in more than a hundred countries to highlight rights-related “crises” now facing the international community.
The organization also commented in the past over the state of human rights in Pakistan. Most recently, it raised concern after the provincial administration of Balochistan banned large gatherings in Gwadar amid protests by utilizing its emergency powers.
“Government threats and attacks on media continued to contribute to a climate of fear among journalists and civil society groups [in Pakistan], with many resorting to self-censorship,” said the report. “Authorities have pressured or threatened media outlets not to criticize government institutions or the judiciary. In several cases in 2022, government regulatory agencies blocked cable operators and television channels that aired critical programs.”

It blamed the government for using the colonial-era sedition law against political rivals and journalists while mentioning the case of Shahbaz Gill, a senior official of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, who was arrested in August for asking junior military officials not to follow orders that went against public sentiment in the country.
“In May, journalists Sami Abraham, Arshad Sharif, Sabir Shakir, and Imran Riaz Khan were charged with abetment of mutiny and publication of statements causing public mischief by criticizing state institutions and the army in their journalistic work and unspecified social media posts,” HRW added. “In October, Arshad Sharif was killed by the police in Kenya. Sharif had left Pakistan citing threats to his life.”
The organization reiterated its concern over the misuse of blasphemy law in Pakistan against members of minority religious communities.
It pointed out that violence against women and girls, including rape, murder, acid attacks, domestic violence, and forced and child marriages, also remained “widespread” in the country in 2022.
The HRW report hinted at international concerns about the rights situation in Pakistan, adding a delegation of European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights visited the country in September to determine its preferential GSP+ trade status which will be decided in the coming year.