The love-hate relationship between the United States of America and Pakistan has borne strategic alliances resulting in military and economic aid packages in love, regime changes, (s)elections, and economic pressure through financial institutions in hate. A perpetual lukewarm state in between these boils and chills is the US Congressional\/Senate hearings on human rights conditions\/violations to appease the taxpayers of the USA and browbeat Pakistan. It provides fodder for think tanks in the USA and influences those at the helm here.
\nThese hearings can be called by entities within Congress. Committee chairs, majority party leaders, members of Congress, and subcommittees may investigate specific topics, collate information, and review legislation and policy options where required. International issues warranting such hearings can be presented through invitations by committees based on prepared witness lists, which may include human rights groups, NGOs, and representatives from the diaspora of that country in the USA. Public hearings can also be conducted through in-person appearances or written testimony.
\nThe history of such hearings may be as old as Pakistan itself, but it is worth analysing how much these hearings matter for us in shaping our relations with the USA, particularly from the 1980s onwards, based on a contextual overview, focus, testimonies, and outcomes.
\nIn the 1980s, the military rule under Gen. Zia ul Haq worked on the Islamization of society to align with the USA\u2019s Cold War policies, resulting in a backlash within our society due to the Afghan War. The stage was set for US Congressional Hearings, which in 1984-85 focused on scrutinising US aid packages of USD 3.1 billion (offered from 1981 to 1986), citing the human rights situation in Pakistan. The outcome was the Pressler Amendment, linking the aid to an annual certification of non-nuclear weapon development, conveniently disregarding the human rights situation. The Senate Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs conducted hearings in 1987 on testimonies ranging from the repression of political workers and parties to the persecution of minorities and minority Muslim sects. It was followed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee\u2019s hearing on Democratic Transition in 1988, focusing on forced disappearances, judicial executions under the Hadood Ordinance, and press censorship. This resulted in the endorsement of the 1988 general elections but increased international scrutiny of Pakistan; however, the state of human rights hardly improved.
\nThe mantra of human rights abuse, governance without civilian oversight, impinging on freedom of expression, discrimination against women, and religious persecution ruled the charts in the decade to follow. The menu of such hearings from 1990 to 1999 was not much different from those conducted in the 1980s. Served at the table were the USA\u2019s legislative interests, the situation post-military takeover of 1999, reports on human rights, and the routine resolutions and condemnations by the USA.
\nOptions for presenting a counter-narrative to that of the USA dissipated post-9\/11. Nevertheless, those unwilling to listen to voices of dissent at the international level continued to probe us through hearings at forums like the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and the bipartisan Congressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC). Hearings conducted from 2006-2019 called out media curbs, restrictions on NGOs, and other human rights issues. The focus of these hearings remained on the suppression of dissent, restrictions on media, and military dominance in civilian affairs. In 2022, bipartisan lawmakers called for prioritising human rights in diplomatic engagements, but the USA\u2019s policy options for reforms in Pakistan were overshadowed by strategic interests.
\nRecapitulating the outcomes, those from the 1980s provided a legacy of restraint on human rights for foreign policy critics in the USA and failed to press for resolutions to human rights crises. The USA\u2019s strategic priorities in that era and a stringent sanction regime haunted Pakistan for years to come. Hearings in the 1990s resulted in increased advocacy of human rights and more pressure exerted on Pakistan for legal reform; however, implementation remained elusive. An influx of NGOs was unleashed to work with local partners here, and the realities of that are well-known. The outcomes of these hearings post-9\/11 have been no different; the nature of the hearings remained transactional. Aid was subjected to improvement in the human rights situation, but the application remained inconsistent. In parallel to the \u201cDo More\u201d demand in the War on Terror, Pakistan was criticised for human rights abuses during military operations in the Swat Valley and Balochistan.
\nThe recent hearing on repression in Pakistan was conducted on 15 July 2025, in which Congressman Christopher Smith (Rep) hinted at putting in a set of eighteen sanctions on Pakistan due to issues like political repression and the absence of religious freedom, etc. Note the word \u201chinted.\u201d
\nThe chronology, cause and effect of these hearings highlight the USA\u2019s duplicity regarding Pakistan. It is not that the human rights situation is all hunky dory here, no, it\u2019s not. Has never been, because it always has served the interests of the ruling elite. And this doesn\u2019t stop here. Partial application of post-hearing recommendations on the part of the USA is attributable to its geopolitical strategic interests in the region. A divided Pakistani diaspora, as is evident from Mr Sajid Tarar\u2019s take on India and Israel, exacerbates the prevailing dichotomy. On one hand, lawmakers in the USA are raising concerns about the human rights situation in Pakistan, and on the other hand, pressuring Pakistan to accept Israel and revisit its relations with China is a clear testimony to the transactional nature of these hearings. It has added more to the misery of the common man in Pakistan and occlusion of options for policymakers here, rather than improving the human rights situation. Patronising regime change operations across the world, against the will of the people on the one hand and championing human rights on the other, can never go together. Pakistan must mend its house, prioritising its humans and their voices over short-term material gains; through rule of law, economic reform and above all, letting the will of the people prevail. USA should realise that it cannot mend and dent at the same time, i.e. hearing and twisting the arm, all in one go.<\/p>\n
The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at zulfiqar. shirazi@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The love-hate relationship between the United States of America and Pakistan has borne strategic alliances resulting in military and economic aid packages in love, regime changes, (s)elections, and economic pressure through financial institutions in hate. A perpetual lukewarm state in between these boils and chills is the US Congressional\/Senate hearings on human rights conditions\/violations to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-article"],"yoast_head":"\n