Pakistan’s Human Rights Reckoning Cannot Be Deferred Any Longer |
A new layer of international pressure emerged on December 4, 2025, when 44 US lawmakers urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to impose Global Magnitsky sanctions on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief General Asim Munir.
Led by Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Greg Casar, the bipartisan group accused Islamabad of a “systemic and escalating” campaign of repression—citing disappearances, crackdowns on journalists, and violence targeting women, minorities, and Baloch communities.
Their letter calls for visa bans, asset freezes, and the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and highlights intimidation reported by U.S.-based critics such as journalist Ahmed Noorani and musician Salman Ahmad.
Pointing to the disputed 2024 elections and the Supreme Court’s approval of civilian trials in military courts, the lawmakers warn that Pakistan is drifting toward authoritarianism behind a “pliant civilian façade.”
They have requested a formal US response by December 17; as of December 9, Pakistan’s Foreign Office has remained silent.
This intensifying scrutiny comes as the world marks International Human Rights Day on December 10—a moment that forces Pakistan to confront an uncomfortable truth: despite being a signatory to seven of the nine core UN human rights treaties, its commitment to those obligations remains largely rhetorical.
The past two years have brought a deepening erosion of civil liberties, a growing militarisation of governance, and a steady normalization of state and non-state violence.
For a country that routinely invokes democratic values on the international stage, Pakistan’s human-rights trajectory tells a far more troubling story—one that regional observers, UN agencies, and international rights organisations can no longer ignore.
A Double Crisis for Pashtuns and Baloch Communities
Few communities illustrate Pakistan’s human-rights crisis more starkly than the Pashtuns and Baloch. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the former FATA region, Pashtun civilians continue to bear the brunt of counterinsurgency........