By IANS
London : With only three days to go for general elections, the human rights group Amnesty International has called on all Pakistani political parties to commit to ratifying and implementing key international treaties so that the country can finally put an end to a cycle of rights abuse.
“Human rights are not a one-way street: while political parties ask for protection of their human rights, Amnesty International urges them to extend that same protection to others should they win a place in parliament,” Amnesty’s head of Asia Pacific Catherine Baber said.
“Ratification and implementation of human rights treaties is key to maintaining rule of law and good governance – and critical in preventing the misuse of the constitution, the subversion of the independence of the judiciary and the locking up of lawyers and human rights defenders,” she said.
The leadup to the Feb. 18 elections, Amnesty reminded political parties, has been marked by dramatic violence, with attacks on election meetings and candidates being shot at.
“The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which have strongly condemned President (Pervez) Musharraf’s abuse of power, now have an opportunity to play a role in protecting human rights in law and practice,” Amnesty said.
The group has drawn up a 12-point plan for human rights ahead of the elections.
“Successive governments in Pakistan’s history have been responsible for serious human rights violations. The political parties in Pakistan now have an opportunity to bring this cycle of abuse to an end,” said Baber.
Three treaties that Amnesty wants any future government to ratify: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN Convention Against Torture.
And the country is yet to implement two treaties that it has ratified – the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“These treaties should be ratified without further delay to comprehensively protect all human rights and to give substance to commitments made when Pakistan was elected to the Human Rights Council,” said Baber.