The United States Department of State’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2024 devotes significant attention to Pakistan, listing concerns that range from extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances to restrictions on media, labour rights and religious freedoms. Yet, as in previous years, the picture painted is often grim without fully recognising Pakistan’s security challenges, ongoing reforms and institutional corrections.
The report acknowledges that Pakistan endured one of the most violent periods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2006, with 570 terrorist attacks in just the first half of 2024 and at least 386 police and military deaths in nine months. Pakistan is combating one of the world’s deadliest terror campaigns, where militants deliberately blur civilian-militant lines. Every counterterror operation carries risks, but equating Pakistan’s actions with abuses while ignoring externally funded insurgencies is a distortion of reality. Civilians too became targets of sectarian violence, including the killing of seven Shia teachers in Upper Kurram. Against this backdrop, Pakistan’s military and police mounted major operations against militant groups. To highlight alleged extrajudicial killings while ignoring the scale of terrorism that prompted such action distorts reality. Yes, abuses must be addressed, but the core human rights challenge remains militant violence itself. As one observer aptly noted: “Defeating terror is the first human right” and that “Fix the terror pipelines; the caseload will shrink.”
On enforced disappearances, more than 10,000 cases since 2011 are often cited. But it is equally important to note that Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry has traced thousands of missing persons, senior officials have been fined by courts and the government has introduced financial and legal support for families. This is not denial; it reflects institutional recognition and judicial oversight. The real challenge lies in speeding up adjudication, not in refusing accountability. Security threats from externally-enabled insurgencies complicate due process timelines; the answer is more transparency + faster adjudication, not blanket condemnation.
Western commentary often portrays Pakistan’s press as shackled. Yet in practice, the Islamabad and Sindh High Courts struck down restrictive orders, such as a PEMRA notification limiting court reporting. That judicial intervention shows resilience within the system. And journalists in Pakistan face not just alleged state regulators but also terrorist bullets. The tragic killing of Khalil Jibran in Khyber, after threats from militants, underlines that press freedom is contested by multiple actors, not solely by authorities – a reminder that threats to press freedom here are often terrorist, not just governmental.
With hundreds of noisy, critical outlets, Pakistan’s media remains among the most pluralistic in the developing world.
Concerns over custodial torture and impunity are valid. But reforms are underway: on 1 June 2025, the Lahore High Court ordered all such cases to be investigated by the Federal Investigation Agency under the National Commission for Human Rights; that’s a structural accountability. Police officers accused of torture or bribery have been suspended and investigated. The challenge lies not in denial, but in reform, acknowledging gaps while strengthening oversight through NCHR and courts shows Pakistan’s accountability trajectory; moreover, Pakistan’s human rights record must be seen in context: a democracy under siege by terrorism, not in isolation.
While blasphemy laws remain controversial andvigilante violence is a worrying reality, however, criticism of blasphemy laws often ignores Western parallels, where Holocaust denial laws equally limit free expression on moral grounds. State action against perpetrators of exploiting blasphemy laws in Pakistan is being strengthened, in Quetta, for example, a suspect was killed extrajudicially, the police officer involved was arrested and charged. This underscores that such actions are not state policy but violations of law. On the legislative front, family laws have been reformed to protect minorities: the Christian Marriage Act was amended in 2024 to raise the minimum marriage age to 18 and Punjab introduced the Sikh Marriage Act to ensure proper registration. These are fresh legislative gains for minorities, evidence of positive legal reform that external commentators routinely ignore. Yet such measures often go unnoticed in external assessments. Moreover, reform on religion-linked social issues is incremental and legalistic, not performative, precisely to avoid backlash that worsens rights outcomes.
Pakistan is also home to over 2.35 million refugees and asylum seekers, mostly Afghans. Few countries in modern history have carried such a burden for so long, especially under economic strain. Schools, clinics and legal documents have been provided to millions, while other nations have built fences. Hosting millions for decades amid economic strain is rights practice at scale; few countries match that record or duration.
Labour rights, censorship and transnational repression are frequent criticisms. But it is worth remembering that Western corporations set exploitative supply-chain wages, Western governments imprison whistleblowers like Julian Assange and Western militaries conduct drone strikes abroad. Human rights lose credibility when applied selectively. As one counter-argument puts it: “Either apply standards globally, or admit they are political tools.”Incremental reforms undertaken in Pakistan, such as home-based workers’ unions and provincial OSH laws, show Pakistan’s evolving labour protections, often overlooked in Western assessments.
Pakistan does not claim perfection. While enforced disappearances, custodial abuse and intolerance remain serious problems, but presenting them in isolation, without the context of terrorism, poverty and fragile institutions, is misleading. Pakistan’s judiciary, commissions andlegislators are reforming laws, disciplining officials andprotecting refugees. True human rights advocacy should empower partners, not demonize them. Pakistan’s strength lies not in denial but in reform, often under fire. Context matters and balance is overdue; “Context matters: counting our mistakes without counting our martyrs is propaganda, not rights work.”
