The government stopped Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) from publishing its quarterly newsletter, Juh-e-Haq, on May 22, 1999, which has for years highlighted rights violations including domestic violence and child and bonded labour.

But according to AFP, Director of the HRCP, I. A. Rehman, denied any violation and said the move was part of a policy of 'harassment' against independent non-governmental organisations.

The move followed a crackdown by the Punjab government against what it called 'fake' non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Earlier it banned some 1,949 of them.
Provincial social welfare minister Binyamin Rizvi told AFP the permission for the quarterly was cancelled after a notice was not replied to.

He said the notice was issued because the HRCP failed to abide by a rule that it send two copies of each issue to the authorities. While, I. A. Rehman said the rule was not violated and no notice was received.

Binyamin said the action against more than a thousand NGOs was taken because they were non-functional groups "existing only on paper."

He said some 3,000 remaining NGOs were "under scrutiny," adding the government had reports that some of them had engaged in anti-state activities as "agents of foreign countries."

The government would soon introduce new rules providing for punishments such as the confiscation of assets of NGOs which "used social work as a pretext for personal gains."

Binyamin said no NGO would be allowed to receive direct foreign aid and all such help would have to be channelled through the government.
The HRCP newsletter, however, continued to circulate practically till the filing of this report.