The National Assembly on Wednesday approved five separate demands for grants amounting to over Rs1.74 billion to support the Human Rights Division and its affiliated institutions for the upcoming financial year ending June 30, 2026.
The demands were formally presented by Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, and covered allocations for both current and development expenditures.
The approved grants include Rs1,273,159,000 for the Human Rights Division, Rs235,816,000 for the National Commission for Human Rights, Rs92,789,000 for the National Commission on the Rights of the Child, Rs118,750,000 for the National Commission on the Status of Women, and Rs23,000,000 specifically earmarked for development spending by the Human Rights Division.
Concluding debate on opposition cut motions, Federal Minister for Human Rights Azam Nazeer Tarar expressed regret that recent legislative reforms in the human rights domain had gone largely unacknowledged during the budget proceedings.
He highlighted key legislative achievements, including the Child Marriage Restraint Act, new legal frameworks for Christian marriages, and the establishment of Anti-Rape Investigation Rooms across the country. Tarar stressed that these were not minor changes but “significant reforms that merit attention — not silence.”
Calling for constructive engagement, the minister criticized the opposition’s approach, urging parliamentarians to work within constitutional norms. “Rather than prioritising national concerns like the budget, they remain preoccupied with petty grievances and are more focused on sending them to Adiala Jail,” he remarked.
Describing the budget as a “serious national matter,” Tarar appealed for a mature and balanced political discourse. He invoked the sacrifices of political leaders, including Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and noted that Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz had also endured political persecution.
He further emphasized the importance of protecting individual rights, saying the sanctity of ‘chadar and chardiwari’ — a cultural metaphor for personal privacy — must be universally respected, not selectively applied.
