Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
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HRCP is an independent nongovernment organization committed to protecting human rights and democratic values. RTs are not necessarily endorsements.
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Freedom of expression is a constitutional right. It should not become a right that exists only when it is convenient for those in power. From internet restrictions during political events to arbitrary arrests of journalists and disruptions affecting political communication, the pattern is difficult to ignore. When access to information is restricted and criticism is met with intimidation or prosecution, it is not only individual expression that suffers. Public participation suffers with it. Political rights do not end when a person goes online. For democracy to function, people must be able to speak, question, criticise, organise, and access information without fear. Constitutional rights mean little if exercising them comes at the cost of being silenced.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan12,692 views • 11 days ago
They take one person. They torture the whole family. When someone is forcibly disappeared, the abuse doesn’t stop with the individual—it leaves behind families living in continuous, agonising limbo. Under international human rights standards, placing a person outside the protection of the law and subjecting their loved ones to perpetual uncertainty is a recognised form of mental torture. Yet, Pakistan’s Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act 2022 (TCDA) leaves critical gaps: ❌ It does not criminalise enforced disappearances. ❌ It fails to explicitly recognise psychological and mental torture. ❌ It leaves extra-custodial abuses largely unaddressed. 📣 HRCP demands: 1️⃣ Pass dedicated laws to make enforced disappearances a crime. 2️⃣ Amend the law against torture to include mental and psychological trauma. 3️⃣ Ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. 🔗 Sign our petition here: #EndEnforcedDisappearances #SupportVictimsOfTorture #MentalTorture #HumanRights #HRCP #LegalReform EUPakistan
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan45,999 views • 1 month ago
They jailed her for a tweet. On 24 January, human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha were sentenced to 17 years in prison for tweeting and retweeting. Days before her arrest, we filmed her talking about PECA, the law they'd use to lock her up. 2026 marks 10 years of Pakistan's cybercrime law, which has been used to silence anyone who dares to speak up. Tweet about disappearances? Jail. Call out human rights abuses? Jail. Criticise the state? Jail. Imaan and Hadi are not the first. They won't be the last. Join HRCP's campaign against a law that does little more than kill free speech and punish dissent. Ten years is long enough. PECA has to go. #PECA10Years #ImaanMazari #FreedomOfExpression #DigitalRights #Pakistan
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan85,623 views • 8 months ago
No one should have to fight for the right to exist as they are. Religion, sect or belief should never determine whether a citizen is safe, heard or protected by the state. On National Minorities Day, we reaffirm that Pakistan's Constitution guarantees every citizen the freedom to practice their faith and live without fear. Yet minorities continue to face violence, discrimination, and exclusion from justice, with accusations alone often treated as guilt before any court has ruled. For the Pakistani state, this means enforcing existing constitutional protections and repealing discriminatory provisions that contravene the principles of equal citizenship. It also means implementing the recommendations of the 2014 (Justice Tassaduq Jillani) and 2022 (Justice Mansoor Ali Shah) Supreme Court judgments to ensure that minorities have real access to justice and to hold the state accountable when it fails to protect them. #NationalMinoritiesDay #equalcitizenship EUPakistan
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan22,804 views • 1 month ago
Under international law, enforced disappearance is counted as a crime against humanity. Yet families in Pakistan continue to live with uncertainty, fear and unanswered questions about the fate of their loved ones. On this International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, HRCP calls on the state to recover all victims safely and promptly, ensure due process and fair trials, criminalise enforced disappearance, and hold all those responsible accountable. Pakistan must also ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, restructure the ineffective Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, provide reparations to victims and families, and facilitate a visit by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. No disappearance without accountability. No family without answers.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan14,193 views • 1 month ago
محمد حنیف کے 2008 میں لکھے گئے ناول A Case of Exploding Mangoes پر کسی کو کوئی اعتراض نہیں تھا۔ دس سال تک یہ ناول مارکیٹ میں دستیاب رہا، ایوارڈزحاصل کیے، اور یونیورسٹیوں میں پڑھایا جاتا رہا۔ کتاب وہی ، کہانی وہی، فرق صرف زبان کا تھا۔ پھر اس ناول کا اردو ترجمہ شائع ہوا، پبلشرزکوچھاپوں کا سامنا کرنا پڑا، کتابوں کی دکانوں سے ناول ہٹادیاگیا۔ کتاب وہی، کہانی وہی، فرق صرف زبان کا تھا۔ اشرافیہ کے لیے انگریزی؟ کوئی مسئلہ نہیں۔ باقی سب کے لیے اردو؟ سوال ہی پیدا نہیں ہوتا۔ محمد حنیف ساری زندگی صحافی رہے ہیں۔ انہوں نے مقدمات کا سامنا کیا، ایک یا دو ہتک عزت کے نوٹس جھیلے، یہ سب ایک صحافی کی معمول کی زندگی کا حصہ سمجھا جاتا ہے۔ اُنہیں لگا کہ فکشن مختلف ہوگی کیونکہ وہ بہرحال فکشن ہے۔ لیکن اب سنسر شپ ایسے کام نہیں کرتی۔ وہ کہتے ہیں کہ پہلے ہمیں فکر رہتی تھی کہ کچھ ایسا نہ لکھ دیں جو پیکا کی نظرمیں آجائے۔ اب خدشہ ہے کہ جو کچھ بہت پہلے لکھا تھا اس پر بھی پیکا کے تحت مقدمات کا سامنا کرنا پڑسکتا ہے۔ ماضی کا خوف: پیکا کے 10 سال نے ہمیں یہی دیا ہے۔ایک ایسا قانون جو اتنا مبہم، اتنا وسیع ہے کہ 10 سال پرانا ترجمہ شدہ ناول بھی نشانہ بن سکتا ہے۔ ایسا قانون جو صرف آج کی کہی باتوں پر سنسرشپ نہیں لگاتا بلکہ آج تک کی تمام تحریروں پر منڈلاتا رہتا ہے۔ محمد حنیف کی تجویز؟ پیکا کو شاعر منیرنیازی پر بھی لاگوکریں۔ اگر ہم ادب کو مجرم بنا رہے ہیں توپھر زندہ افراد پر بس کیوں کریں؟ اس شہرسنگ دل کو جلا دینا چاہیے پھراس کی خاک کو بھی اڑا دینا چاہیے اک تیز رعد جیسی صدا ہرمکان میں لوگوں کو ان کے گھرمیں ڈرا دینا چاہیے سنسرشپ ایسی ہی دکھائی دیتی ہے، صرف کتابوں پر پابندی عائد نہیں کرتی، بلکہ طے کرتی ہے کہ انہیں کون اور کس زبان میں پڑھے گا۔ صرف بولنے پرسزا نہ سُنانا ، بلکہ لکھنے والوں کو اپنی ہی ماضی کی تحاریرسے ڈرا دینا۔ #BreakingTheSilence #10YearsOfPECA #HRCP #MohammedHanif
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan48,648 views • 8 months ago
Is human progress on torture real—or just a myth we tell ourselves? It is easy to assume that torture is an outdated practice that western democracies left behind long ago. But as legal scholar Dr Adnan Sattar highlights, history is not a straight line toward progress. From the aftermath of 9/11 in the Global North to state structures across the Global South, fear-mongering and 'law and order' rhetoric are routinely weaponised for political gain. When fear of crime, terrorism, or 'the other' is stoked, repressive laws and custodial violence are quickly normalised. In postcolonial states like Pakistan, this dynamic is amplified by inherited imperial security regimes that criminalise dissent and entrench institutional violence. 🛑 Torture isn't a relic of the past—it is a continuous political choice. We must demand systemic reform and hold state actors accountable everywhere. 🖊️ Sign our petition here: #HRCP #EndTorture #HumanRights #RuleOfLaw #Pakistan #CivilLiberties EUPakistan
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan11,664 views • 1 month ago
The internet was the last place where Pakistanis could speak freely against injustice. But now it just feels like the government wants to unplug it. Lawyer M. Jibran Nasir 🇵🇸 has defended many people booked under the cybercrime law (called PECA for short). He explains that PECA isn't just about stopping 'bad guys'. It is being used as digital crowd control, just like colonial laws were used by the British to stop people from gathering in the streets to protest. They want to regulate your feed the same way they regulate the streets. Is it about safety or is it about silence? #InternetCensorship #DigitalRightsPakistan #10yearsofPECA
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan35,710 views • 7 months ago
HRCP is greatly concerned to learn that at least 37 protestors (including women) associated with the Sindh Rawadari March have been arrested by the Karachi police while attempting to hold a peaceful assembly to demand justice for the murder of Dr Shahnawaz Kunbher. The police have also attempted to arrest HRCP chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt and warned him not to speak to the press. We fear further arrests through the day. The Sindh Rawadari March includes progressive voices from across the province, Sindh, including human rights defenders, trade unions and feminist movements, whose right to protest is protected by the Constitution. Those arrested must be released unconditionally and the Sindh Rawadari March must be allowed to continue its assembly at the Karachi Press Club unhindered.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan34,840 views • 2 years ago
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