HRCP urges state improve its human rights record.

LAHORE -- On concluding its 34thAnnual General Meeting (AGM), the general body of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called on the state to improve its human rights record-in particular to protect freedom of expression and to ensure that charges of sedition and terrorism and the practice of enforced disappearances are not used to stamp out dissent. In a statement on Monday, HRCP demanded that the state should fulfil its moral obligation to treat both access to affordable healthcare and social security as fundamental rights. The Commission also urged the government to appoint a new chairperson to the National Commission for Human Rights and ensure it becomes fully functional and financially independent. Among other issues raised in the resolution passed at the AGM, HRCP expressed strong concern at the rise in wanton violence against children, women and transgender persons, as well as the surge in blasphemy cases against the Shia community. The Commission, which is following the Arzoo Raja case closely, demanded that forced conversions be stopped immediately. It also expressed alarm at the continual persecution of the Ahmadiyya community. The Commission condemned the deaths of two farmers following a protest in Lahore, and demanded that the state

take practical steps to improve working conditions in...