WASHINGTON, April 1: There was an increase in extra-judicial killings during 2002 in Pakistan but exact figures were unknown by year’s end, says the US State Department’s annual report on Human Rights Practices.

The police and security forces were responsible for the deaths of a number of individuals associated with political or terrorist groups during the year. Police officials generally insisted that these deaths occurred during attempts to escape or to resist arrest. However, family members and the press insisted that many of these deaths were staged.

Unlike in previous years, there were no credible reports of disappearances at the hands of the security forces.

Police routinely used force to elicit confession but there were fewer reports of torture by police during the year. Some human rights groups stated that this decrease reflected the influence of army monitoring teams. Other observers suggested that the frequency of torture remained unchanged, but the media devoted less attention to the issue during the year.

It said the judiciary remained subject to the executive branch and other outside influences. Despite the Musharraf government’s pledge to respect the independence of the judicial system, it took steps to control the judiciary and to remove the government from judicial oversight.