ISLAMABAD: Human rights activist and former senator Farhatullah Babar has expressed his concerns over the weakening of the human rights bodies in the country, stating that torture in all its forms is rampant in Pakistan, and failing to criminalise torture has put the lives, freedom and rights of vulnerable people at risk.

“Apart from torture in police lockups and prisons, there are extra-judicial killings, internment centres not run by civilian bodies under some regulations, and above all, enforced disappearances that inflict torture not only on the victims but on entire families,” he said while speaking to the participants of a consultation on the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Thursday.

Mr Babar, who is also a member of the HRCP as well as the head of the human rights cell of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said there were also unreported cases of torture, adding that the right to protection against cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment was fundamental in a civilised state. He was of the view that human rights institutions, like the National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR) and the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) had been weakened in recent years and their weakening had weakened the safeguards against torture.

“The state has always denied the existence of torture, citing constitution and religion.

But facts speak otherwise,” he said, disclosing that former NCHR chairman late Justice Ali Nawaz Chowhan had prepared a shadow report on torture, but he was not allowed to send it to the UNHRC. Later, the NCHR Act was amended to debar him from applying again for the post of chairman, Mr Babar regretted.

Mr Babar claimed that internment centres were in existence for the past several years in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which were operating without oversight mechanism.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Mr Babar called for initiating a probe of the two reported cases of “custodial deaths” during the last year under the supervision of the NCHR as was required under the anti-torture and anti-antic custodial death legislation enacted in November last year.

He said the provision of supervision by the NCHR was made in the law because the victims’ heirs were often reluctant to pursue legal courses due to various forms of pressure. He also called for financial resources from the NCHR to set up institutional mechanism for supervising investigations by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in accordance with the law.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2023