Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was elected chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Tuesday. This decision has been made unanimously by the National Assembly (NA) which is a great sign for the newly elected member of the party. Several political experts had predicted a great political future for the young leader due to his expertise in dealing with the foreign press regarding matters of state and security. This position shows a bright tenure for the young politician because a large chunk of the population is youth and they voice out their concerns via offline and online measures.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto should thoroughly investigate the human rights issues pertaining to the country. His party has had a long history of siding with the masses and voicing concerns for those being denied basic rights. If only the committee can be mobilised to work on the Articles of the Constitution ensuring basic rights to all the citizens of Pakistan, this will improve the social set up of the country significantly. With the enforcement of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) ten-point agenda, the focus will be towards ending extremism and that will automatically improve the human rights gradient of Pakistan.
At the moment, issues which require the urgent attention of the committee are those of female empowerment, prison reforms, enforced disappearances, and extra-judicial killings. These are some of the core issues being discussed on both, social media platforms and in the protests of the civil society. The more the Human Rights Committee is in line with the voice of the youth, the easier it will be to track the changes of time and implement progressive policies without having to look to the West for a model which also lacks cultural sensitivity.