KARACHI: Pakistan has been added to the Civicus Monitor`s human rights watchlist for 2025 due to a narrowing civil space, human rights activists being arbitrarily targeted by authorities, and journalists being clamped down on by draconian laws, according to a statement issued by the monitor.

According to Civicus, Pakistan joins the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Serbia, Italy and the United States in this year`s watchlist, which `lists countries experiencing rapid declines in civic freedoms`.

It lists Pakistan`s status as`repressed` on its website.

`Pakistan`s recent criminalisation of activists, stifling of opposition and minority protests, and digital space restrictions have resulted in the county being added to the Civicus Monitor watchlist,` the press release read.

The release added that the government brought `trumped up charges` against Dr Mahrang Baloch, the leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, and human rights activist and lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir.

The release said that Mahrang `faces multiple criminal charges, including under the Anti-Terrorism Act, for organising sit-ins across the country and attending gatherings`.

Meanwhile, the release said that Mazari-Hazir was `targeted on terrorism charges for actively supporting legal redress for victims of violence and persecution and advocating for rights of persecuted religious and ethnic communities`.

Civicus added that the Anti-Terrorism Act was also used to ban the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement in 2024.

`The charges against human rights defenders like Dr Mahrang Baloch and Imaan Zainab MazariHazir are a political witch-hunt.

They are attempts at silencing dissent,` said Rajavelu Karunanithi, Civicus` Advocacy and Campaign Officer for Asia.

`Civicus calls on the government to drop these fabricated charges immediately and to revoke the ban against the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement,` the release added,quoting Karunanithi.

The monitor observed a systematic crackdown on protests by political opponents in October and November last year. `Hundreds were arrested and charged ahead of protests under vague and overbroad laws,` Civicus said. `The authorities blocked major highways and routes to stifle the movement of protesters.

`Protests by the ethnic Sindh and Baloch groups were met with suppression by the authorities.

These incidents are clear violations of Pakistan`s commitments to uphold civic freedoms,` the monitor added.

Furthermore, Civicus noted that journalists were targeted under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), with the press release stating that they were `accused of spreading `false narratives against state institutions`.

The monitor added that Peca was amended in January to `further tighten its control on freespeech`, while it noted that social media platform X has been shut down in Pakistan since February 2024. Civicus also mentioned the suspension of mobile and internet services amid protests in its press release.

`The crackdown on protests by the opposition and ethnic minority groups and targeting of journalists and digital restrictions are inconsistent with Pakistan`s international human rights obligations,` the press release read. `They also go against the recommendations made by the UN Human Rights Committee.

According to Civicus, the UN Human Rights Committee reviewed Pakistan`s record on civil and political rights and urged recommendations to protect civic freedoms in October 2024.

`The authorities must take steps to reverse course and protect the rights to peaceful assembly and expression and bring perpetrators to justice,` added Karunanithi.