Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Commission on Human Rights has initiated a formal inquiry into nearly 1,500 cases of torture uncovered in just one District of Punjab, i.e. Faisalabad.

A report by Justice Project Pakistan, in collaboration with Yale Law School Policing as Torture: A Report on Systematic Brutality and Torture by the Police in Faisalabad, Pakistan revealed conclusive signs of abuse in 1,424 cases out of a sample of 1,867 Medico-Legal Certificates compiled by a government-appointed District Standing Medical Board in the district of Faisalabad during 2006 and 2012. In 96 other cases, physicians found signs indicating injury and required further testing to confirm.

According to the data, out of the 1,424 cases, 58 of the victims were children and over 134 were women

In response to a complaint filed by JPP, detailing the widespread, systematic abuse and torture perpetuated by the Faisalabad Police between 2006 and 2012, the NCHR Chairman Justice Chowhan and Commissioners Chaudhry Shafique and Fazila Aliani held a hearing with representatives of the District Standing Medical Board Faisalabad and Faisalabad police.

The NCHR noting serious concerns about the lack of legislation criminalizing torture in Pakistan, stated that it would be visiting District Faisalabad to investigate as part of their inquiry. The NCHR will also be holding a hearing for victims, perpetrators and stakeholders there in the last week of May.

Justice Chowhan, Chairman of the NCHR, while summoning the perpetrators of torture named in JPP’s findings, said that, “Those who commit torture should be exposed.”

During the proceedings, JPP Executive Director, Barrister Sarah Belal informed the NCHR that there was no redress provided to any of the victims of police torture, and the accountability mechanisms that exist in the law have failed to provide relief to those victims.

Dr Khurram Raja remarked that the District Standing Medical Board only looks at cases that are referred by the Courts, and there are over 220 per year.

Under international law, as a signatory to both the Convention against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Pakistan is under obligation to adopt all measures to prevent and punish acts or torture. Under these treaties, states also have an obligation to provide adequate redress to victims of torture.

A bill criminalizing torture was first tabled in Parliament in 2014. It is yet to be passed by the National Assembly.

Published in Daily Times, May 4^th 2018.