Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community

Despite numerous crackdowns on political activism, human rights organizations, for the most part, were permitted to function freely. Groups such as the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan openly condemned the military government's treatment of detained political figures, and its curtailing of judicial independence. According to a report in Dawn, following the shutdown of nearly 2,000 NGOs and the imposition of new registration requirements for NGOs by the Punjab provincial government last year-a move that was initiated under the Sharif administration-NGOs in the province continued to require clearance from the Intelligence Bureau in order to register with the government. While NGOs in Sindh province did not require such clearance, the Sindh Social Welfare Department began scrutinizing the workings of all NGOs functioning in the province, including their financial records and sources of funding.