Custodial maltreatment is rampant in Pakistan, as a staggering 90 per cent of detainees are inflicted physical and mental torture at the hands of law enforcers, a report by various non-governmental organisations (NGO) has revealed.
Human Development Organisation (HDO) Project Assistant Adeel Ahmad said that the report findings are based on torture cases across the country during the last six years. He was speaking at a day-long capacity building session which was organised by HDO, an NGO, on Sunday. The participants – including district presidents of different political parties, lawyers, religious leaders, and media persons – concluded that only through strict monitoring of detention centres and by setting up a proactive judicial response system involving lawyers and the civil society can we put and end to custodial abuse.
“Torture has disastrous impacts on the lives of the victims. It leaves them traumatised and unable to behave normally in a society,” said Ahmad. He said the victims of torture are overtaken by feelings of humiliation, become demoralised, and suffer from mental, sleep and appetite disorders. He added that torture survivors become a burden on the society as they are unable to financially support themselves or their family, ultimately contributing to poverty.
“Since torture is the cause and effect of poverty, concerted effort on part of all the stakeholders of the society are needed to contain this worsening situation of human rights,” he added.
Talking about efforts underway to rehabilitate torture survivors and to prevent custodial maltreatment in Hazara Division, Ahmad said that around 250 to 300 torture victims are being rehabilitated in the region annually using a multi-disciplinary approach.
The HDO project assistant said his organisation is actively pursuing the incorporation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) into Pakistan’s penal laws, while efforts are underway to raise awareness among the public about legal rights of detainees.
Elaborating on the topic, Rural Development Project (RDP) Executive Director Muhammad Ahsan Khan said that although Pakistan ratified UNCAT in June 2010, it has yet to criminalise torture. As a result of this, he said, law enforcement agencies are working with “full impunity”, subjecting detainees to torture. He urged the lawyers, media persons, medical practitioners, political and religious leaders to join hands to put and end to custodial abuses and to rehabilitate torture survivors and their families through active monitoring at the social level. He urged them to keep a check on custodial maltreatment within the existing legal mechanism until a legislation specific to torture is passed.
Khan also demanded the government to fulfil its commitment with the UN and incorporate the legal provisions of UNCAT in its criminal laws.
Khaliqdad, the chairman of public safety commission Haripur, vowed that if police personnel are ever found guilty of torturing suspects, they will be dealt with an iron hand. He urged the citizens to file complaints against police officials involved in such human rights violations.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s Maulana Qazi Gul Rehman, Pakistan Peoples Party District President Haji Tahir Qureshi, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz City President Advocate Agha Shabir, former Haripur Bar Association general secretary Advocate Khurshid Azhar, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf leader Kamal Ghaznvi, Jamaat-i-Islami Information Secretary Abbas Khan and Haripur Press Club General Secretary Wasim Azhar Turabi participated in the session.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2012.
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