Natalie Garbarino

Dr. Pallister

PSCI 365

September 20, 2017

The Problem of Pakistan

In 1947, Pakistan was founded through a partition agreement with the British and Indian

governments on the basis of unity through religion. Unfortunately, the goal of uniting Muslims

by religion alone, regardless of ethnicity, was off to a rocky start: economic instability and old

cultural hatreds have since created challenges that continue to plague Pakistan. Today, Pakistan

is a militant police state guilty of censorship, discrimination against minorities, and violent

attacks committed by the Taliban and al-Qaeda, among other violations of human rights.

Regardless of an ongoing civil war, Pakistan, as a consenting contributor and signer of

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has failed to prioritize the rights of its own people.

After finalizing terms with Great Britain and India in 1947, Pakistan found itself faced

with crippling economic instability; India had received the greater portion of both the military

and resources in the split, leaving a new nation to clean up a mess for which it was not

responsible, and which it still has not entirely fixed to this day. One of the ways this problem has

persistently manifested itself is in the exploitation of labor. According to the U.S. State

Department, Pakistan’s “constitution expressly prohibits the employment of children below age

14 in any factory, mine, or other hazardous site…. The law prohibits the exploitation of children

younger than age 18 and defines exploitative entertainment as all activities related to human

sports or sexual practices and other abusive practices.”1 The report continues, however, to

mention that “Enforcement efforts were not adequate to meet the scale of the problem.”2Many
underprivileged families have also found themselves desperate enough to sell their own children

into labor. In addition, the Pakistani government has been found guilty of both underpaying

workers and limiting employment through discrimination. A 2016 report discovered that little

had changed, except for what equates to a ten-dollar wage hike, and increased but ineffective

punishments for the exploitation of labor.3 Economic poverty and its consequences are only a

small portion of the extent of Pakistan’s human rights abuses, however.

While the greater ideology of Islam may have been what inspired the creation of

Pakistan, deviant versions of this ideology have been most prominently responsible for

Pakistan’s recent history of human rights abuses. Freedom of speech and press have been

severely and violently restricted, with cultural and political differences causing the exclusionary

mentality common in human rights violations. Subversion of any kind is not tolerated; the

religiously motivated government considers that threats to its power, real or imagined, are often

the responsibility of ethnic and religious minorities. A Huffington Post article reports that in

Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, “Social activist Khurram Zaki, who protested against religious

extremism, was gunned down by Taliban assailants after he demanded the resignation of the

head of paramilitary forces in the city over the death in military custody of a local political

leader.”4 Another example of government suppression comes against a man named Punhal Sario.

He was known for being a strong advocate against government-mandated disappearances.

However, Human Rights Watch recently reported on his own disappearance. The article states,

“Witnesses say that Sario… was abducted from Hyderabad by security forces on August

3.”5 The article argues that Pakistan clearly has no interest in complying with “the UN body’s

recommendation to make disappearances… a criminal offense under Pakistani law.”6 The

dangerous ideologies of the radical Islamic terror groups involved—such as their belief in the
infallibility of the faith and their violent suppression of opposition—have corroded it from

within, resulting in globally recognized human rights violations.

Religion, thus, plays an important role in the government of Pakistan. The weakness of

the state has led to a long history of both supporting radical Islamic terrorist organizations and

turning a blind eye to their actions, particularly in the regions near Afghanistan, where the

Taliban has the ultimate say. The Taliban seeks to return Islam to its fundamental roots through

forced conversions and strict enforcement of ancient laws, particularly in regards to minorities.

Women, homosexuals, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and others have been receiving the brunt of the

Taliban’s force. The Indian Express reported in an interview, “‘every year, over 1,000 girls and

young women in Pakistan… are forcibly converted upon marriage.’”7 Amnesty International

mentions that in addition to forced conversions, radical Islamic groups—state sponsored or

otherwise—have enacted measures to ensure compliance: “Blasphemy laws [have] remained in

force…. The laws [have] violated the rights to freedom of expression, thought, conscience and

religion.”8 The government’s failure to control these abuses has allowed them to run rampant

throughout the nation.

Thus, in Pakistani society, the government maintains a strict hold over both the minds

and bodies of its citizens. To summarize, Pakistan’s leaders have failed to command the respect

of their citizens, allowing threats from groups such as the Taliban to terrorize the nation. Their

weakness has led to the spread of an exclusionary ideology that has resulted in the deaths of

thousands. Poverty has further encouraged human rights abuses, allowing for exploitation in the

workforce. If the government does not soon push for the encouragement of human rights,

Pakistan faces the possibility of falling victim to genocide.

1 U.S. State Department. “Pakistan 2014 Human Rights Report.” (Washington, D.C., 2014),

56, https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/236860.pdf, accessed 17 September 2017.

2 “Pakistan 2014,” 56.

3 U.S. State Department. “Pakistan 2016 Human Rights Report.” (Washington, D.C., 2016), 57-

58, https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/265758.pdf, accessed 17 September 2017.

4 Farheen Rizvi, “Pakistan’s Karachi Becomes a Human Rights Nightmare,” Huffington

Post, 2017.

5 Saroop Ijaz, “Pakistan Campaigner for the ‘Disappeared’ Himself Goes Missing: Four

Activists Feared Forcibly Disappeared in Sindh Province,” Human Rights Watch, 28 August

2017.

6 Ijaz, 2017.

7 “U.S. lawmakers express concern over human rights abuses in Pakistan’s Sindh province,” The

Indian Express, 19 August 2017.

8 Amnesty International. “Pakistan 2016/2017.” (Mexico City,

2017), https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/pakistan/report-pakistan/,

accessed 17 September 2017.