Today, the federal Ministry for Human Rights arranged an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss the proposed law against torture and custodial death. The proposed draft of the law was submitted by the Asian Human Rights Commission and Anti Torture Alliance Pakistan, with the consent of the Karachi Bar Association, Karachi Union of Journalists, Karachi Press Club, Legal Aid Office, Pakistan Medical Association and 22 other human rights based organizations.
Mr. Justice (Retired) Nasir Aslam Zahid and Mrs. Bushra Khalid represented the AHRC and Anti Torture Alliance.
The meeting was attended by high officials from the ministries of defence, law and justice, human rights, and foreign affairs. Mr. Shaigan Sharif, the secretary to the Ministry of Human Rights, presided the meeting, which was held at the secretariat of the ministry.
The meeting thoroughly discussed the proposed draft and also the UN Convention against Torture (UN CAT). The meeting ended with the note that the suggestions will be incorporated, and the HR ministry will now circulate the amended draft with ministries again. Finally, HR ministry will submit the draft law before the cabinet; after its approval, the proposed law will be tabled in parliament.
The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes today’s inter-ministerial meeting for making a law against torture and custodial death. It is a praiseworthy initiative of the Ministry of Human Rights and the ministries of defence, law and justice, and foreign affairs. After the ratification of UN CAT, it has been the obligation of the government to make laws in compliance with it and to stop the menace of torture in custody as a tool for getting confessional statements and bribes.
The AHRC hopes that parliaments and the government realize that torture should be stopped and the law-enforcement agencies should use the latest methods of investigation. Legislation criminalizing torture should not be the end of the process of defending the peoples’ right to have protection from torture. The culture of impunity should be ended through the political will of the Pakistani authorities, a matter of equal importance.
