WASHINGTON, May 27: Amnesty International has criticized both India and Pakistan for carrying out gross human rights violations in their efforts to fight terrorism.

In India, the BJP-led government in Gujarat failed to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 2002 sectarian violence against Muslims, the report said.

About 2,000 people were killed in the violence in Gujarat sparked by the torching of a train in which 59 Hindu activists died at Godhra in February 2002. Later, an investigation by the Indian home ministry revealed that Muslims were not involved in torching the train, which apparently caught fire from inside.

Also 68 of the 72 people travelling in the carriage had returned home safely, indicating that fewer people had died in the fire. Hundreds of people were arbitrarily detained in Pakistan in the context of the US-led war on terror, says Amnesty's annual report for 2004 released this week.

There was also a sharp increase in sectarian violence in the second half of the year particularly in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, the report said. In Pakistan, human rights abuses against women, children and religious minorities continued to be ignored by the government.

There were severe restrictions on freedom of expression in the NWFP particularly targeting musicians and artists, the report said. At least 278 people were sentenced to death and at least eight were executed, Amnesty reported.

Amnesty also expressed serious concern about constitutional amendments introduced under the Legal Framework Order in 2002 that, the report said, gave "sweeping powers" to President Pervez Musharraf.

At least 76 people were killed during sectarian violence in Pakistan last year, mostly carried out by unidentified gunmen from organized sectarian groups, the report said.

"The government's continuing support for the US-led war on terrorism resulted in a further undermining of human rights protections. Hundreds of people were arrested and deported, in violation of Pakistan's Extradition Act of 1974.

More than 500 people, including Pakistani and foreign nationals, among them Arabs and Afghans, were arbitrarily detained and handed over to US officials on suspicion of being members of Al Qaeda or the Taliban," Amnesty observed.

"Women and girls in Pakistan continued to be subjected to abuses in the home, the community and in the custody of the state. Impunity for such abuses persisted. Very poor women and women from religious minorities were particularly vulnerable to violence in the community and home.

"At least 631 women and six girls died in honour killings in the first eight months of the year. About half of these deaths were reported in Sindh province. Many more killings went unreported in Balochistan and NWFP."

Violence against children was also common and in some cases children were subjected to sexual abuse as well, the report said. "Children continued to be brought to court in chains and tried before judges not empowered to hear their cases. Children were also sentenced to death in violation of both international law and the government's assurance."

In September, a sexual abuse scandal, which stretched back over two decades, surfaced at a government school in Peshawar. Several teachers and other employees were accused of involvement in supplying students as child prostitutes to guests in a local hotel, Amnesty reported.

In Indian Gujarat, "attempts to hold the perpetrators accountable were hampered by the highly defective manner in which police recorded complaints". Out of 4,252 complaints filed by individuals, 2,032 were closed even though the alleged abuses were found to have occurred, Amnesty said.

The report cited the acquittal of 21 accused in the Best Bakery case to raise concerns about the "impartiality of institutions in the state" and the government's commitment to ensure justice.

Fourteen people taking shelter in the Best Bakery owned by a Muslim were charred to death in its oven during the Gujarat violence.

Amnesty also highlighted the violence against women in Gujarat, specially "targeting of Muslim women", which it said remained unacknowledged by the state government and its criminal justice system.

The report also criticizes India's Prevention of Terrorism Act, known as POTA, which is used to crush the Kashmiri struggle for freedom. The lapsed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act continued to be used to arrest people in Jammu and Kashmir by linking them to cases filed before 1995, it said.