SOUTH ASIA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

2310other four; Ahmadis one; and Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, and other non-Muslims one(see Section 2.c.). Each of the four categories is maintained on a separate electorateroll, and minorities cannot cast votes for the Muslim constituency seats. Under Article106 of the suspended Constitution, minorities also had reserved seats in the provincialassemblies. The 1997 general election report states that each Christian NationalAssembly member represents 327,606 persons; each Hindu and scheduledcastes member, 319,029; the Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, and other non-Muslim member,112,801; and the Ahmadi member 104,244. These figures significantly understatethe population of most of the minority groups because they are based on 1981 censusfigures. By year’s end, the 1998 census figures for religious minorities had notbeen published. According to a local magazine, there are approximately 3 millionChristians, 2.7 million Hindus, and several hundred thousand Ahmadis in the country.Tribal people are underrepresented in government and politics. The 1997 electionsfor the eight National Assembly members from the FATA were, for the first time,conducted on the basis of universal adult franchise. Prior to 1997, in keeping withlocal traditions, tribal leaders, or maliks, appointed in the governor’s name by thecentral Government’s political agents in each agency, elected the FATA National Assemblymembers. In accordance with the Government’s general ban on politicalparty activities in the FATA, candidates were not allowed to register by politicalparty and political party rallies were not allowed. However, several political partiesdid campaign covertly. Tribal people, including large numbers of women in someareas, registered to vote despite campaigns by some tribes against their participation.However, on election day, far fewer registered women than registered men actuallyvoted.Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigationof Alleged Violations of Human RightsThere are several domestic human rights organizations, and new human rightsand legal aid groups continue to form. These groups generally are free to operatewithout government restriction; however, they are required to be licensed. Humanrights groups report that they generally have good access to police stations and prisons.The Government has provided protection to human rights lawyers defending accusedblasphemers following threats and attacks on the lawyers by religious extremists.These threats became more explicit and public in 1998, with signed graffiti callingfor the killing of well-known human rights activist Asma Jahangir.The Musharraf Government made some attempts to ease some of the previousgovernment’s restrictions on NGO’s; the Sharif Government revoked the licenses ofalmost 2,000 NGO’s in 1999. General Musharraf appointed several persons withprominent NGO backgrounds to his Cabinet and many NGO workers reported asmoother working relationship with the Government during the period covered bythis report. The new government in Punjab under General Musharraf lifted the previousban on NGO registration (see Section 2.b.).International human rights observers are permitted to visit the country and travelfreely. Several international organizations, many focused on refugee relief, maintainpermanent offices in the country, although some report difficulty in securingvisas for their foreign staff.The Ministry of Human Rights, established in 1995, is now a department withinthe Ministry of Law, Justice, Human Rights, and Parliamentary Affairs. Some 125employees staff the department, which is headquartered in Islamabad and has fourregional offices. The department has set up a ‘‘fund for women in distress and detention’’and a ‘‘relief and revolving fund’’ for victims of human rights violations. Becauseof its limited budget, the department operates primarily on a case-by-casebasis but seeks help from donor agencies for projects to build institutional capacityand human rights awareness. The department finalized and began limited implementationof a reform program for jails. However, the department is not viewed aseffective by human rights observers. The Government has failed to take follow-upaction on the 1997 report of the Commission of Inquiry for Women.In April the Government organized a conference on human rights and pledged totake ‘‘small but meaningful steps’’ including: an 8-month public relations campaignon human rights themes; requiring deputy commissioners to move female burn victimsto hospitals (see Section 5); banning the use of fetters in prisons and jails (seeSection 1.c.); ordering deputy commissioners to review all blasphemy cases prior tothe filing of a FIR (see Section 1.d.); creating a commission for police reforms; releasing20,000 prisoners from jail; calling for a Commission on the Status of Women;and changing the law so that women married to foreign husbands can claim citizenshipfor their children. The Government subsequently took no apparent steps to organizethe public relations campaign and backtracked on having deputy commis-VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:46 Sep 20, 2001 Jkt 071555 PO 00000 Frm 00154 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 F:\WORK\COUNTRYR\S71555\71555.036 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1