ISLAMABAD: Pakistan lacks data, adequate monitoring and redressal mechanisms and comprehensive national legislation against torture, a member of the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) said on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on Tuesday.

Speaking at an event held at the NCHR, commission member Chaudhry Mohammad Shafique said Pakistan is duty bound as a state party to the Convention against Torture to properly define and criminalise torture.

The NCHR has received a hundred complaints of police torture in the last year, he said, adding that the commission has also picked up 58 cases suo motu, of which 34 were related to female victims.

Commission received 100 complaints of police torture last year, NCHR member says

“As many as 29 cases were disposed of by the commission,” he said.

Mr Shafique added that the NCHR has jurisdiction to investigate human rights violations committed by military and paramilitary forces under the NCHR Act.

Human rights officers have been appointed to prohibit and prevent torture in police stations, and the nearly 25 officers of the Islamabad police have been dismissed for their involvement in inflicting torture, Superintendent of Police retired Aamir Khan Niazi said at the event.

Psychologists have been appointed to rehabilitate torture victims, he added.

Psychologists have also been appointed for torture victims by the prison department, said Deputy Inspector General of Police (Prisons) Rawalpindi Naveed Rauf.

He said that in order to eliminate torture in prisons, it was primary to build the capacity of the prison department’s lower staff.

Disciplinary action has been taken against staff involved in inflicting torture, he said.

Law and Justice Commission Secretary Dr Rahim Awan suggested using Provincial Justice Coordination Committees, which the commission oversees, as a forum to monitor torture, he said.

A separate protest was also held in this regard outside the National Press Club, led by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

In a statement distributed at the protest, the HRCP said civil society must reinitiate the social debate and political discourse on the importance of eradicating and prohibiting torture under all circumstances, to refute the general belief that torture is an admissible and effective means of interrogation or punishment.

The commission called on the state to take measures to implement the United Nations Convention against Torture, to which Pakistan is a signatory.

The statement read: “Law enforcement agencies also need greater support in terms of training, resources and access to modern, scientific methods of investigation to replace the prevailing culture in which the means are seen to justify the end. At the same time, there must be a system of democratic accountability for state personnel involved in torture.”

“We strongly urge the state to revisit the Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape (Prevention and Punishment) bill passed by the Senate in 2015 – which was, regrettably, allowed to lapse – and to ratify the Optional Protocol to UNCAT and establish a corresponding national preventative mechanism. The right to protection against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment applies in all circumstances, with no exceptions whatsoever. This is fundamental to what it means to be a civilised state.”

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2018