Islamabad -- President Pervez Musharraf's government has once again received flak from the country's premier human rights body for its pro-Taliban policies and "a complete collapse of institutions".
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Human rights violations are on the increase and civil liberties are curbed in Pakistan where there is "a complete collapse of institutions," the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said in its latest report for 2006 released here Thursday.
It has raised afresh the question of 'missing persons' that has been commented upon at the highest level in the government and taken up by the Supreme Court.
Alleging 400 cases of persons disappearing, apparently picked up by intelligence agencies and held in captivity without being produced in any court, the HRCP has said that it plans to move a constitutional petition before the apex court.
The report estimates that there are 20,000 seminaries in Pakistan, most of them unregistered and unregulated. It says the seminaries promote bigotry on the base of gender, sect and religion and cases of physical and sexual abuse were frequent at these seminaries.
HRCP chairperson, Asma Jahangir, released the 344-page report.
"Due to a collapse of institutions in the country, all remedial doors have been shut on aggrieved people and the state has completely failed to protect their rights. Instead, it has usurped their rights," Jahangir said.
The report titled 'State of Human Rights in 2006', exposes an alarming rate of suicide, rape, murder, street crime, domestic violence, child labour and enforced disappearances last year, The Daily Times said.
Kamila Hayat, editor of the report, said socio-economic problems were evident from the fact that 1,717 suicides took place in 2006. The report says that 110 people were killed in terrorist attacks, and hate material was freely circulated on CDs and tapes despite a ban.
It accused the government of encouraging pro-Taliban forces in parts of the NWFP, where girls schools were forced shut and video and music shops bombed. There were 1,821 crimes against women reported in 2006.
At least 565 women and girls died in so-called honour killings, nearly double the 287 cases reported in 2005, though this was due "at least in part" to expanded data collection.
Sixty of the dead were minors. Arrests were made in only 128 cases, the report said.