ludUO

Introduction
There is no question that the human rights situation remained murky
across the country in 2012, but the unprecedented milestone of a
democratically elected government about to complete its tenure offered
hope that, given the chance, the people of Pakistan could extract
themselves from the quagmire. It is something worth celebrating that
despite their differences the political parties in Pakistan suppressed
the temptation to play any role in derailing the democratic process.
Even though Pakistan could have done without the lies and half-truths
at the UPR process, engaging with the process itself was a step forward.
Inviting to Pakistan the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary
Disappearance, and facilitating the visits of the UN high commissioner
on human rights as well as the special rapporteur on the independence
of judges and lawyers were interpreted as a commitment to discard
the policy of isolationism. How the working group’s recommendations
or suggestions made by other UN authorities are implemented would
determine if Pakistan can indeed rid itself of the scourge of enforced
disappearances once for all.
2012 was a year of many challenges where Pakistan did not prove
equal to the task. The pace of implementation of human rights treaties
that the country had ratified left a lot to be desired. No progress was
made at all in implementing treaties such as the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It was another year when pervasive
intolerance was widely tolerated. The religious and sectarian minorities
1
State of Human Rights in 2012