UN condemns 'widespread' torture by police in Pakistan

Called on Islamabad to implement urgent reforms to law


Afp May 13, 2017
PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: A UN committee has condemned the "widespread practice of torture" in Pakistan by police and paramilitary forces in a report published today, and called on Islamabad to implement urgent reforms to the law.

TSH party leader injured in police custody

"The police engage in the widespread practice of torture throughout the territory, ... with a view to obtaining confessions from persons in custody," the UN Committee against Torture wrote in its first report on the situation in the country, made public after months of investigation.

"The Committee is seriously concerned at reports that members of the State's paramilitary forces ... have been implicated in a significant number of cases of extra-judicial executions involving torture and enforced disappearances."

The UN highlighted that the Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape Bill, presented several years ago, has yet to be put to a vote.

Pakistan, which ratified the Convention against Torture in 2010, presented its first report on the situation in the country this year -- four years late.

In its findings, the UN referred to the torture of several Pakistani bloggers who had criticised extremism and the authorities, leading to weeks in arbitrary detention.

UN body to review Pakistan's compliance with convention against torture

The committee said that Pakistan had failed to launch an investigation into any of these cases, or into the numbers disappeared or killed in detention.

The National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR), an organisation linked to Pakistan's parliament, welcomed the report, saying "the publication could help start a conversation about torture" in the country.

A 'total' ban on torture is an "unequivocal prerequisite to effectively fight terrorism", it added.

COMMENTS (5)

UR | 6 years ago | Reply UN is blind when it comes to Kashmir and Palestine
rustam | 6 years ago | Reply I wonder if similar condemnation is there for torture and killings of Muslims suspected of eating of beef in India and INDIFFERENCE of Modi government to such on going and uncontrollable practice there.
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ