How important is it for Civil Society to keep demanding the State to strictly enforce the implementation of Fundamental Rights?

What is Civil Society?

The  term  'Civil Society'  can be  traced  through  the  works  of  ancient  Greek philosophers  to Marcus  Tullius  Cicero  and  other  Roman  thinkers.  Cicero  did  believe  that  human  have  the capacity to  come together  willingly to  work towards  a good  society.
The military rule of Ayub Khan provided ground for the Civil  Society  to  breed  in  Pakistan.  Ayub’s  controversial  victory  in  the  Presidential Election  of  1965  against  Fatima  Jinnah  resulted  in  anti-Ayub  marches,  strikes  and  public processions.

Civil society in Pakistan comprises nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations, think tanks, trade unions, cultural groups, and informal citizen organizations. In 2001, Civicus, an international alliance of civil society groups, described Pakistan’s civil society as a "collection of incoherent voices, conflicting worldviews and opposing interests" characterized by "unresolved struggle between the practices and values of pre-capitalist society and new modes of social life, between authoritarian legacies, and democratic aspirations."

Why Civil Society keep demanding the State to strictly enforce the implementation of Fundamental Rights:

What fundamental rights are?

Civil society plays vital role for making people aware of the need and value of the rule of law, as well as apprising government institutions and functionaries of the state and demanding to enforce the implementation of fundamental rights, which are the constitutional rights guaranteed under the constitution from Article 8 to 28.

Civil society unceasingly tells the government institutions and officials that they shall not do anything that is in violation of law or that may infringe upon the fundamental rights of the people. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is one of the leading organizations fighting for human rights and democratic development in the country. 

It is important for civil society to demand the state to strictly enforce the fundamental rights .Those who speak for women’s right to education, or their economic independence, or their political rights are accused of working against Pakistan’s social values. Anyone who demands justice for the minority communities is branded a foreign agent. The anti-rights lobby in this country argues that monitoring of human rights violations, organizing protests against enforced disappearances, and focusing on extralegal killings are anti-national activities.

The most important fundamental rights according to my sense of thought are:

1)      The first and the most important is the protection of life of the citizens and their individual liberty because when a life of an individual is not protected by the state then how come a state would succeed to provide further fundamental rights to its citizens. Because a democratic nation always has its emphasis on fundamental rights of the citizens, what initiative a state could take in account to protect their citizens.

2)      Secondly, the right to freedom of speech and the freedom of expression it can be well said that when an individual would not be able to express or speak in every sense not amounting to hate speech but such concerns relating to his fundamental rights and formal attitude to express their opinion or a concern. Again a state where an individual is not free to speak fails to be a democratic nation because we communicate by speaking, writing, dressing, protesting and in so many other ways. Communication is an important part of our lives, and the level of freedom to communicate has a significant impact on our society and on the strength of our democracy.

3)      Thirdly, the right to fair trial because the right to fair trial is in the core of the human rights protection system because only courts can restore violated rights. For example, a fair trial can award compensation if human rights were violated by the state officials, while fair trial is a guarantee that the state will not abuse its power and the dispute will be resolved in a just and fair manner. The right to fair trial is an essential safeguard of a just society and its importance cannot be overstated. It is an essential guarantee of the rule of law.

4)      Fourthly, the Right to Information because RTI is all about making citizens informed. Informed societies mean a lively and functioning democracy. The RTI empowers people to seek information from the government and public organizations and ask for government documents and their copies. Through the RTI, citizens know about government decisions and the limitations of the country and the government. RTI promotes transparency and accountability.

Article 19-A Right to information ~

Right to information is another corrective tool which allows public access to the working and decision making of public authorities.  This necessitates transparent and structured exercise of discretion by the public functionaries.  Article 19-A empowers the civil society of this country to seek information from public institutions and hold them accountable.” Ataullah Malik v. Federation of Pakistan PLD 2010 Lahore 605

Article 25-A Right to education ~

The most important observation one can make about this fundamental right is that it is not limited to “citizens” but to children. This means that any child between the aforesaid ages be that child a Pakistani citizen or not- is to be provided free and compulsory education by state in a manner determined by law. 

Article 20 freedom to profess religion ~

There is a question mark on the state of Pakistan that either they have given full authority to minorities to progress their religion freely or they abstain?

The freedom to profess one’s religion is integral to the ICCPR and therefore any law that abridges that freedom is in violation of and in contradiction to Pakistan’s international commitment.

We saw a complete abdication of responsibility by our state when the police in Rawalpindi stopped Ahmedi worshippers from offering Eid prayers in their own place of worship. No suo motu notice is forthcoming on this issue by our otherwise super activist Chief Justice of Pakistan. Similarly, in passport application forms, officially sanctioned Muslim citizens are required to abuse and curse the Ahmedi religious beliefs, which amount to religious hatred sponsored by the state itself. 

Sindh, Hindu women are being abducted and forcibly converted to Islam. Many Christians are suffering under the blasphemy law, a law which itself is in contradiction to the ICCPR.  In Pakistan, no one is free to go to their temples, mosques or any other place of worship other than the Sunni Muslim majority.

To sum up, Pakistan is in complete and total violation of its international obligations vis-à-vis religious freedom, and civil and political rights. 

Conclusion:

Thus it is concluded that civil society is the caretaker of society. They keep demanding the State strictly enforce the implementation of fundamental rights for the sake of society and for the welfare of citizens. Because fundamental rights are absolute rights and the State cannot impose any restrictions on them therefore it is very important for civil society to keep demanding their implementation for the whole nation.