(June 26 is observed every year as the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.)
Pakistan signed the Convention against Torture and other cruel, Inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment (CAT) on April 17, 2008, along with ratification of the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). It also signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). But torture in custody in Pakistan is a continuous phenomenon. It is still being used as the best means by which to obtain confessional statements. As yet, there has been no serious effort by the government to make torture a crime in the domestic laws of the country.
In the latest recorded case of torture in custody of state intelligence agency the victim, Mr. Abdul Wahab Baloch, was arrested on May 28, 2008, after a demonstration against the tenth anniversary of nuclear experiment. He went through severe torture during his illegal detention for six days but the government has not taken any action against the officials of state agency. Please see the link: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2008/2883/
Torture is prohibited in the constitution through Article 14 (2) that “No person shall be subjected to torture for the purpose of extracting evidence”, but the criminal justice system has nothing to do with torture in custody. Torture in custody is endemic in Pakistan and people generally do not report torture because they have again to report to the police, the very people who tortured them in the first place. Also, the lower judiciary generally takes sides with the prosecution and that is why people do not report cases of torture.
Currently there are no independent investigation procedures in Pakistan to investigate cases of torture. In addition to this, there is an alarming lack of sensitivity among the legal professionals including the judiciary regarding the practice of torture in Pakistan. In such circumstances the damage such practices causes in maintaining the rule of law in the country goes understated. This lack of insensitivity is equally shared by prosecution, law enforcement agencies like the police and also the judiciary, particularly the lower judiciary. Due to this there is a lack of development in the criminal law jurisprudence in Pakistan. Pakistan has thus far failed to effectively address the question of torture.
It is in the day-to-day work of the lower judiciary that this underdevelopment is visible the most. One example is the practice of the lower court judges of allowing remand custody of the detainees with ease while it is clear as daylight that anyone detained is a subject of torture in Pakistan. This practice even fails to make use of the little space available in the current criminal law of Pakistan, where a judge could demand a reason from the investigating agency for handing over custody of an accused to such agencies, than transferring the accused into judicial custody. Put simply, the practice of torture continues because there is no prohibition against it the domestic law in Pakistan.
Click here to download the full Report on Torture on the UN International Day in Support of Torture Victims.
