Torture can be easily misused and it is, therefore, never a rational choice
MIRPURKHAS: Torture is widely used in Pakistan, often in a highly whimsical and arbitrary manner, by law-enforcement agencies under the pretext of extracting information from alleged criminals. More often, the practice is employed against political opponents of the parties in power. In this sense, torture is as unjust and exploitative as oppressive in quashing any meaningful criticism. It was recently revealed by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the World Organisation Against Torture that despite Pakistan’s commitment to the UN Convention against Torture, torture is still prevalent.
Torture indicates the weakness of state institutions, particularly of the judicial system, in conducting investigations in any rational and scientific manner. Torture undermines the fact that any criminal is innocent until proven guilty. Torture not only instills a more aggressive behaviour but also badly hurts the self-esteem of the recipient of the act. It has been learnt that those who receive frequent and extreme tortures acquire more violent and deviant behaviour. Hence, torture plays a role in brutalising individuals so it would not be wrong to consider it a highly destabilising factor.
The reason that torture is so prevalent is that law enforcement has become heavily militarised, especially in the aftermath of deadly terrorist attacks. Another possible explanation is that the state has yet not been able to inject some semblance of professionalism in law-enforcement agencies and the dominant attitude of the police is the same as it was during the British Raj, when torture was treated as a right of the state to suppress the voices of dissent. Will it be wrong to say here that we are still stuck in the past? Should there be no effort to reform the structure of policing to make it a powerful organ of the state?
Torture can be easily misused and it is, therefore, never a rational choice. Moreover, it has been found that information obtained through such cruel means is often murky so there is every possibility of miscarriage of justice. There is a dire need to end this reprehensible practice and employ scientific methods in prosecution to ensure they are scientific, reliable and just.
Shakeel Ghouri
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2016.
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