CALL it ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’, as the Americans have notoriously done, or gloss over it entirely, the fact remains that torture has long been an integral part of the law-enforcement machinery in this country. On Friday, a consultation organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the World Organisation Against Torture was held in Islamabad to review the state’s compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture which Pakistan signed in 2010. Among the points that emerged at the consultation was that despite Pakistan’s ratification of this convention, brutality at the hands of law-enforcement agencies is only considered torture when it involves extremely serious physical injuries. It was also mentioned that a private bill against torture passed by the Senate in March 2015 is pending in the National Assembly.

The use of torture is usually driven by the urge to extract information, intimidate individuals, or exact revenge for perceived transgressions, often a mix of all three. It is the first resort of an unsophisticated state with weak oversight mechanisms and a civil society unable to effectively protect citizens’ rights. In Pakistan’s increasingly militarised security environment, where individuals can be glibly labelled ‘jet-black terrorists’ even prior to their trial, where the end justifies the means, the use of torture as an instrument of law enforcement has become even more entrenched. In 2012, the horrific Adiala 11 case came to light when seven men detained by intelligence agencies appeared in court holding urine bags, their bodies brutalised and frail. More recently, there was the death of Aftab Ahmed, senior member of the MQM who died in Karachi in the Rangers’ custody, his body bearing clear evidence of unmitigated savagery. While many former detainees — relieved to at least be alive — prefer to keep their agony private, dumped bodies of ‘missing’ people routinely display signs of sadistic violence. As if the obvious moral imperative were not enough, there are also practical reasons for international law against torture to be respected. A number of reports, including that of the US Senate about the CIA’s ‘enhanced interrogation’ of terrorism suspects post 9/11, have demonstrated that information gleaned through torture is highly unreliable. Much like practices such as slavery or genocide, torture falls in the lowest categories of human behaviour. It is time Pakistan honoured its commitments to put an end to this shameful open secret enacted in shadowy ‘safe houses’, police stations and internment centres across the country.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2016