Overview
- HRCP, which launched its State of Human Rights in 2025 report in Islamabad on Monday, says free expression, judicial independence and public safety deteriorated last year.
- The report says authorities used amended cybercrime rules, sedition and anti-terror laws to target critics, and it warns Anti-Terrorism Act changes now allow detention for up to three months without charge or judicial oversight.
- HRCP links a marked decline in judicial independence to the 27th Constitutional Amendment, citing expanded executive influence, a new Federal Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court’s restoration of military trials of civilians.
- The commission tallies 1,272 terrorist attacks and operations in 2025 causing 3,417 deaths and 2,134 injuries, reports 1,696 people killed in 1,155 police encounters—mostly by Punjab’s Crime Control Department—and records 273 new enforced disappearances with the highest count in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
- The report notes limited gains that include the National Commission for Minorities Act, new child marriage restraint laws in Islamabad and Balochistan, and higher-court rulings that advanced women’s rights.