2012 was a year of many challenges where Pakistan did not prove
equal to the task. The pace of implementation of human rights treaties
that the country had ratified left a lot to be desired. No progress was
made at all in implementing treaties such as the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It was another year when pervasive
intolerance was widely tolerated. The religious and sectarian minorities
Introduction
2
paid the price for that with their blood. With violence and intimidation
rising ever higher the Hazaras and religious minorities voted with their
feet—leaving Pakistan to seek a sanctuary elsewhere. In the name of
honour, cultural practices and religion, women were denied their rights
and made to suffer the most horrendous of violations. Human rights
defenders, NGO workers, and political activists and journalists were in
the crosshairs in particular. The ignominy of a constant failure to protect
their lives was matched only by a persistent inability to catch their
killers.