LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed alarm over growing threats to democracy and human rights amid human rights violations and a `civil-military imbalance`.

A statement issued at the conclusion of the autumn meeting of the commission`s executive council says the prominence of military and the security apparatus in all spheres, many of which are clearly beyond its mandate with civilian ownership and input lacking or quickly recedingrepresents serious peril to democracy and representative governance. Instead of ceding space over counter-terrorism or any other pretext, the political leadership and parliament must urgently take ownership of issues and focus on the quality of governance, transparency and peo-ple`s needs. There also appears to be a clear plan to project the role of the military leadership in state affairs to the exclusion ofcivilian role, it says.

The HRCP has further expressed concerned about increase in general intolerance of dissent and challenges to the media and journalists which make them more vulnerable.

This impact is visible in violence against journalists, lawyers and other professionals as well as in self-censorship or a `cautious` or selective approach.

Civil society organisations now face a campaign to malign and demonise them and they are facing hurdles to their work. Human rights defenders who already work in a very dangerous environment are at greater risk because of the demonization and a failure to protect rights defenders from extremist and militant elementshas greatly enhanced their vulnerability, the commission says.

On the cyber crime bill, the HRCP says the state seems impervious to reasonable proposals for reforms and has ignored the fact that this intransigence will have serious repercussions on fundamental freedoms. These proposals must be considered and the law improved with safeguards. Though the situation in Karachi is better today than it was in September 2013 when the Rangers operation was launched, however, the number of killings in encounters and complaints of rights violations at the hands of the security apparatus have escalate d over that period. Allegations of disappearance, custodial killing, torture and the operation not being even-handed demand close scrutiny. Civilian input and oversight of the operation appears tobe non-existent.

On the situation in Balochistan, the commission points that the crisis in Balochistan remains elusive as mixed messages emerge from the province. The people of Balochistan must have a stake in negotiations and must not be deprived of the level of democracy present in other provinces. The kidnappings for ransom might have decreased in Quetta but many of the other law and order issues remain rife in and outside the provincial capital.

Disappearances are still reported, security forces operations are going on in places like Awaran. It is high time to urgently pursue meaningful political steps to improve the lives of citizens in this long-suffering part of Pakistan.

Raising the issue of minorities, the commission says religious minorities in Pakistan remain themost vulnerable of the citizens.

Well known concerns of religious minority communities regarding faith-based violence, discrimination and unequal protection of the law are still unaddressed. The need to confront hate speechhas found some small mention in the official narrative, but impunity for the perpetrators still remains the norm. The use of the blasphemy law to settle scores or punish citizens and the intimidation of lawyers and judges has made independent judicial determination of such cases impossible.

The HRCP says the child abuse and exploitation in Kasur are enough to put any civilised society to shame for abandoning its children. Sexual exploitation of children and preparation and sale of videos of their abuse are not peculiar to Kasur or any one region in the country. The sordidaffair has exposed the utter lack of protection for the nation`s children. There are many lessons to learn and civil society needs to actively monitor that things do notreturn to business as usual.

The commission says there is lack of transparency in military operations and the need to take on militants of all hues across the country has long been argued and has found greater acceptance even among those in denial after the army public school attack in Peshawar last year. Certain aspects of the military operations, however, merit a closer look. The operations under way in the north-western parts of the country lack transparency and difficulties for the media and civil society in accessing information makes things even more problematic. That needs to change without delay.