Current Affairs for BPSC Headmaster/Headmistress

Exam Preparation
Topic 1
Fundamental Rights/Human Rights
Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person simply
because they are human. These rights are universal, inalienable, and interdependent.
They ensure that all people are treated with dignity and fairness, regardless of their
religion, race and background. Human rights are recognized and protected by laws at
both international and national levels.
Key Dimensions of Human Rights
1. Legal Framework
Human rights are formally codified in international and national legal systems. The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948 by the United Nations
General Assembly, is the cornerstone of international human rights law. It outlines
fundamental rights like freedom of speech, right to education, and protection from
torture.
International treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) further elaborate these rights.
At the national level, countries incorporate these rights into their constitutions. For
instance, the Constitution of Pakistan (1973) guarantees fundamental rights under
Articles 8 to 28, including:
1. Article 19: Freedom of speech
2. Article 25: Equality of all citizens before the law
3. Article 25 (A): Right to education
4. Article 20: Freedom of religion

2. Cultural and Religious Perspectives

Human rights are interpreted differently across various cultures and religious systems.
For example:
1. In Saudi Arabia, women's rights are often constrained by interpretations of
Islamic law, such as the need for male guardianship for certain decisions, which
clashes with international norms of gender equality.
 2. In India, the caste system, though constitutionally abolished, continues to
marginalize Dalits in violation of human rights principles of equality and dignity.
These cultural frameworks often prioritize collective identity, family honor, or religious
obligations over individual freedoms. This creates a tension between universal human
rights and cultural relativism.
3. Violation Factors
Several structural and societal factors contribute to human rights violations:
1. Government Oppression: In Myanmar, the military's persecution of the
Rohingya Muslim minority has been labeled as ethnic cleansing by the UN.
2. Lack of Education: In rural parts of Afghanistan, many girls are denied
education due to cultural beliefs and insecurity, violating their right to education.
3. Economic Disparity: In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty contributes to limited
access to clean water, healthcare, and housing—rights protected under ICESCR.
4. Social Norms: In Pakistan, honor killings, though illegal, still occur due to
entrenched patriarchal values.
4. Global vs. Local Tensions
There is often a conflict between international human rights standards and local
traditions. For example:
1. Child marriage remains prevalent in Niger and parts of Pakistan, despite being
banned under international law and domestic laws. The practice is culturally
accepted in some rural areas.
2. LGBTQ+ rights, promoted globally, are criminalized in countries like Nigeria,
Pakistan, and Uganda, often justified on religious or cultural grounds.
Balancing respect for cultural values while promoting universal human rights requires
sensitive, community-based approaches and long-term educational reforms.
Human Rights in Pakistan: Current Status, Challenges, and Solutions
Pakistan's Constitution enshrines fundamental rights, but implementation remains
uneven. Several issues affect the realization of human rights:
5. Challenges:
1. Gender Inequality: Women face discrimination in employment, education, and
mobility. The case of Qandeel Baloch, murdered in 2016 for "honor," sparked
debate on gender-based violence.
 2. Freedom of Expression: Journalists like Arshad Sharif and Hamid Mir have
faced threats and censorship for speaking out against authorities.
3. Religious Minorities: The misuse of blasphemy laws has led to violence against
Christians, Hindus, and Ahmadis. The 2009 Gojra riots and 2023 Jaranwala
attack are tragic examples.
4. Judicial Delays: Many poor citizens wait years for justice due to backlog and
corruption in the judiciary.
6. Possible Solutions
1. Legal and Policy Reform: Strengthen human rights commissions and make the
judiciary more independent and responsive.
2. Education and Awareness: Integrate human rights education in school curricula
and media campaigns to change mindsets.
3. Support Civil Society: Encourage NGOs and human rights defenders through
funding and legal protection.
4. International Accountability: Engage with UN treaty bodies and follow up on
the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) recommendations.
7. Conclusion
Human rights are essential for peace, dignity, and development. While legal instruments
exist at both international and national levels, the real challenge lies in enforcement
and cultural adaptation. In countries like Pakistan, addressing systemic inequalities,
empowering vulnerable groups, and promoting education are key to strengthening the
human rights framework. The balance between respecting local values and adhering to
global human rights standards must be approached with empathy, education, and
consistent political commitment.
 Relevant Reading Material for Topic
Human Rights World Report 2025: Pakistan
The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which took office after Pakistan’s
general elections in February 2024, continued the previous government’s crackdown on
free expression and civil society. Blasphemy-related violence against religious
minorities, fostered in part by government persecution and discriminatory laws,
intensified. Attacks by Islamist militants, targeting law enforcement officials and
religious minorities, increased, killing dozens of people in 2024 and providing a pretext
for Pakistani authorities to continue their campaign to oust Afghan refugees.
1. Freedom of Expression and Attacks on Civil Society
The authorities’ widespread clampdown on freedom of expression and association
marred the February elections. Social media platforms such as X were intermittently
blocked throughout the year. The government cracked down on opposition parties and
the media, detaining hundreds of activists, some on charges of using violence, while
journalists faced intimidation, harassment, and digital and physical surveillance for
perceived criticism of the government. Government threats and attacks created a
climate of fear among journalists and civil society groups, with many resorting to self-
censorship.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least seven journalists were
killed in Pakistan in 2024, some allegedly by militant groups. Others were the victims
of apparent enforced disappearances, including Syed Farhad Ali Shah, who
was abducted from his home in May. The authorities also detained journalists for their
critical reporting. In February, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency arrested digital
journalist Asad Ali Toor for an alleged “campaign” against Supreme Court judges after
Toor reported on the chief justice and Pakistan’s military establishment.
In June, the Punjab provincial government enacted a vague and overbroad defamation
law, widely criticized by media and human rights organizations as a threat to media
freedom. The law, which applies to social media posts as well as conventional media
outlets, allows claimants to initiate legal action “without proof of actual damage or loss,”
and mandates draconian punishments without access to independent tribunals and
due process.
The authorities charged several politicians and journalists under Pakistan's overly
broad colonial-era sedition law, and civilians were tried in military courts in violation of
international law. NGOs reported intimidation, harassment, and surveillance of various
groups by government authorities. The government used its Regulation of INGOs in
Pakistan policy to impede the registration and functioning of international
humanitarian and human rights groups.
2. Freedom of Religion and Belief
The Pakistani authorities enforced blasphemy law provisions that have provided a
pretext for violence against religious minorities and left them vulnerable to arbitrary
arrest and prosecution. Mob and vigilante attacks on people for alleged “blasphemy”
killed four people; the government failed to hold the perpetrators accountable.
In June, a mob lynched a 36-year-old man after accusing him of committing blasphemy.
The local police failed to intervene to protect the man. In two separate incidents in
Umerkot, Sindh and in Quetta in September, police fatally shot two men accused of
blasphemy. In September, a court sentenced Shagufta Kiran, a Christian woman, to
death for allegedly sharing “blasphemous” material in a WhatsApp group.
Members of the Ahmadiyya religious community continue to be a major target for
prosecutions under blasphemy laws and specific anti-Ahmadi legislation. Militant
groups and the Islamist political party Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) accused Ahmadis of
“posing as Muslims.” Pakistan’s penal code also treats “posing as Muslims” as a criminal
offense. In June, a mob of around 150 people attacked an Ahmadiyya place of worship in
Kotli district and ransacked and damaged the building.
3. Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Law Enforcement Abuses
Militant groups including Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Islamic State of Khorasan Province,
Al-Qaeda, the Balochistan Liberation Army and their affiliates carried out suicide
bombings and other attacks against security personnel that killed at least 757
people and caused hundreds of injuries, mostly to civilians, during the year. In August,
the Balochistan Liberation Army killed at least 74 people in coordinated attacks
targeting police stations, railway lines and highways across Balochistan province.
Pakistan law enforcement agencies were responsible for grave human rights violations,
including detention without charge and extrajudicial killings. In July, the authorities
detained hundreds of people in response to the Baloch National Gathering, a march
seeking to raise awareness of human rights concerns in Balochistan. Some
protesters reportedly attacked security forces, killing one soldier and injuring others.
Baloch activists have alleged that government security forces used excessive force to
prevent protesters from reaching the port city of Gwadar, the end point of the march.
Government authorities imposed an internet shutdown on Gwadar in July.
In December a military court sentenced 60 civilians from 2 to 10 years in prison on
charges of attacking military installations and offices following the arrest of former prime
minister Imran Khan in May 2023. The military courts held secret proceedings and
otherwise denied defendants’ due process. The government said these defendants will
have the right to appeal to the civilian high courts and Supreme Court.
4. Abuses Against Refugees
Government officials blamed Afghan refugees in Pakistan for the surge in attacks by
militant groups, providing a pretext for an ongoing effort by the authorities to coerce
Afghans — some of whom have lived in Pakistan for generations — to leave.
Undocumented Afghans remained particularly vulnerable to abuse, as Pakistani police
and local officials threatened undocumented Afghans. While the numbers deported or
coerced to leave decreased compared to 2023, over 220,000 had returned to Afghanistan
by September 2024, 88 percent of whom cited of whom cited fear of arrest as the reason.
In July, the Pakistan government announced a one-year extension to more than 1.45
million Afghan refugees who held UNHCR-issued Proof of Registration (PoR) cards.
However, government officials maintained that the push to deport the remaining two
million unregistered Afghans would continue. In addition, Afghans living in Pakistan
faced difficulties in accessing employment and education.
5. Economic Justice and Rights
With poverty, inflation, and unemployment soaring, Pakistan’s economic crisis
jeopardized the rights to health, food, and an adequate standard of living for millions.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) program was conditioned on numerous austerity
measures including removing subsidies without adequate compensatory measures,
resulting in additional hardship for low-income groups. Colonial-era laws such as the
Land Acquisition Act, 1894 continued to be used to evict low-income communities. In
April, the Supreme Court ordered the removal of “encroachments” in Karachi to clear
the roads; similar orders have led to mass displacements of low-income communities.
6. Violence against Women and Girls
Violence against women and girls — including rape, murder, acid attacks, domestic
violence, denial of education, sexual harassment at work, and child and forced
marriage — is a serious problem throughout Pakistan, and the government has not
taken meaningful steps in response. Human rights defenders estimate that roughly
1,000 women are murdered in so-called “honor killings” every year.
While Pakistan faces a problem of reliable data of violence against women, the
vulnerability of women in Pakistan was spotlighted by media reports in August finding
46 cases of abduction and sexual violence against women were reported in a single
district of Punjab, Mandi Bahauddin, over a period of less than a month from July 1 to
24.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 18.9 million of the
country’s women and girls married before the age of 18, including 4.6 million before the
age of 15. In 2023, UNICEF found that 18 percent of girls and 5 percent of boys married
before age 18. Married girls are often forced into pregnancies that are dangerous due to
the girl’s young age and pregnancies being closely spaced. Women from religious
minority communities are particularly vulnerable to forced marriage.
7. Children’s Rights
Over 6 million children of primary school age and 13 million children of secondary
school age were out of school, most of them girls. Human Rights Watch found that girls
miss school for reasons including lack of schools, costs associated with studying, child
marriage, harmful child labor, and gender discrimination. Employment of child
domestic workers remains prevalent despite attempts to prohibit it.
Child sexual abuse remains common. The children’s rights organization
Sahil reported that in the first six months of 2024, 862 cases of child sexual abuse, 668
cases of abduction, 82 cases of missing children, and 18 cases of child marriages were
reported.
8. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Same-sex sexual conduct between men remains a criminal offense under Pakistan’s
criminal code, placing men who have sex with men and transgender women at a high
risk of police abuse and other forms of violence and discrimination.
Transgender women continue to be targeted with violence. According to media reports,
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province recorded 267 cases of violence against transgender
persons in the last five years, with only one resulting in a conviction. At least seven
transgender women were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2024.
 Rights Review
Dawn Newspaper
BY Rabiya Javeri Agha (chairperson of the National Commission for Human Rights)
LIKE any country in the world, Pakistan is host to multifaceted and complex human
rights issues. The country’s marginalized groups, women, minorities, and children
frequently face systemic rights violations that are rooted in entrenched power
structures.
Perpetrators enjoy impunity, with little rehabilitative support offered to victims. It is
thus of little surprise that Pakistan’s performance on international indexes is faltering.
Pakistan ranked 164 out of 193 countries under the latest Human Development Index,
placing it firmly in the “low human development” category in terms of education, health
and income levels.
The situation on the ground is worrying, especially when one considers the Government
of Pakistan’s international commitments under the seven core United Nations human
rights treaties it has ratified. These treaties are more than just paper. They create
concrete obligations for the government to respect and fulfil key civil, political, economic,
social and cultural rights of all those in its territory. On Oct 17, 2024, the Government
of Pakistan’s performance pertaining to civil and political rights, as enshrined under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), will come under review
before the UN Human Rights Committee. The committee will engage in a constructive
dialogue with the government, at the end of which a list of recommendations will be
issued.
While Pakistan has ratified the core UN human rights treaties, its commitment to
upholding the rights within remains fragile. The upcoming review underscores the
importance of reform. The National Commission for Human Rights (NHCR) plays a
pivotal role in this process. In its capacity as an official, independent rights watchdog
under the NCHR Act of 2012, it has resolved over 7,900 cases and played a key role in
advocating for human rights at home and abroad. Through its research and advocacy,
the NCHR has successfully challenged discriminatory practices, secured the release of
prisoners, and worked to maintain our operational independence despite challenges.
However, these efforts alone are not enough to reverse the systemic issues that hold
Pakistan back. Our report to the UN committee outlines Pakistan’s legislative and
administrative strides, but also highlights persistent challenges in enforcement.
Pakistan’s commitment to upholding human rights remains fragile.
An area of grave concern is violence against women. Despite constitutional and legal
protections, 23 per cent of married women in Pakistan report physical abuse, while 26pc
face emotional abuse. These alarming statistics point to systemic flaws in law
enforcement and the judiciary, were patriarchal norms limit justice for victims. With
only 18pc of reported rape cases reaching court, the path to justice is fraught with
challenges. The economic cost of this violence, estimated at $189.7 million annually, is
a further burden Pakistan can ill afford. Strengthening legal frameworks, providing
better protection, and empowering women must become national priorities.
Religious minorities in Pakistan also face escalating violence and discrimination. The
misuse of blasphemy laws led to 705 people being jailed by mid-2024, and continues to
cause concern, while forced conversions — especially of Hindu girls — underline the
vulnerabilities of marginalised communities. While legislative measures exist,
enforcement is weak, leaving minority groups exposed to socioeconomic and religious
persecution. The NCHR has worked diligently to address these issues but recognises
that more comprehensive reforms are urgently needed, particularly in tackling
extremism and reforming religious education.
Torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement remain troubling realities. Despite the
passage of the Tor-ture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act in 2022,
implementation has been slow. Torture is not only a violation of human dignity, but a
symptom of larger institutional flaws. Inhumane prison conditions, exacerbated by
overcrowding and inadequate medical care, add to the suffering, with pre-trial detainees
making up a significant portion of the prison population.
Pakistan’s international human rights obligations are not just boxes to be ticked — they
represent the rights and dignity of its people. As we approach the next ICCPR review,
the NCHR will continue to advocate for reforms that bring us closer to fulfilling these
commitments. The government must act decisively to improve conditions for women,
minorities, and the incarcerated, ensuring that no one in Pakistan is left behind. The
future of human rights in Pakistan depends on meaningful action. It’s time to turn
rhetoric into reality.