Islamabad - On June 22, 2002 Mukhtaran Mai was gang raped in the southern Punjab village of Meer wala. Six days later when the imam of the mosque spoke against the rape incident, the story spread like wild fire. The men who committed the act were sentenced to death by the lower court but in 2005, five of them were acquitted on appeal and high court commuted the sentence of the main accused to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court later upheld the life sentence for the main accused. Mukhtaran mai said that she will challenge the decision of the Supreme Court on the five perpetrators.

Apart from rape cases an enormous number of “honour killings” occur in Pakistan. According to Human Rights Watch every year about 1000 honour killings incidents take place in Pakistan. Child marriage has also become a serious issue because about 21% of girls are married before reaching the age of 18. In 2016 when a proposal was submitted to parliament by WHO wishing to raise the minimum age to 18 for females, the Islamic ideology council pressurized to withdraw the proposal because according to them it was anti-Islamic and blasphemous.

Moreover several cases are reported where Hindu and Christian women are forced to convert to Islam but they are not given justice. Apart from these incidents, everyday various acid attack, domestic and child abuse incidents take place. Bills have been passed and laws have been made to address these issues in Pakistan but still people especially women are not getting justice.

Pakistan has signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) but it has not yet signed the first optional protocol of the ICCPR which gives the option to individuals to seek help or file a case if their rights are being violated by the state or if state fails to provide them justice. Article 6 and 18 of ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political rights) talks about “right to life” and ‘freedom of thought, conscience and religion” respectively. States which are party to ICCPR undertakes to ensure that men and women both enjoy all the civil and political rights on the basis of equality. In addition, article 26 of ICCPR also says that people are entitled to equal protection of law without any discrimination.

The ICCPR’s optional protocol holds a significant importance for the discriminated and oppressed people of the country. When a certain gender, social class, religious minority is being condemned by their due rights, when they are being killed for their freedom of speech, choice and way of life and the state fails to protect the rights of such people, ICCPR is the beacon of light. Despite the fact that Mukhtaran Mai was gang raped, the rapists were acquitted by the court. The police in her village didn’t register an FIR and saw her with suspect until a public outcry demanded justice for her.

When these violations don’t affect the authorities, the law and remedies are limited to paper work and judges are biased then the outer force is needed to serve justice. Optional protocol helps people of a state to seek help in getting justice especially when it’s not given to them by their own state authorities.

The reason why Pakistan is not signing the protocol is because if people take their cases to the Human rights committee, this will create external pressure on the state. It is very likely that if the protocol is signed, human rights violations will be challenged under ICCPR. This action in turn will create outrage in the extremist groups and make the state unstable. The internal weakness in the state may lead to economic and politically instability. Despite all this it is essential for Pakistan to sign the optional protocol because the internal judicial system is weak and external avenues are needed.

The failure to sign ICCPR optional protocol has cost thousands of innocent lives and this condition will deteriorate even further if Pakistan fails to sign it. Especially when the internal law mechanism is weak, police and judicial system is biased, the innocent justice seeking people need international attention. Or else the mobs will not hesitate from doing vigilantism and move freely, taking the lives of innocent people.

–The writer is a freelance contributor.

abshar ul huda