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Cosmetic gestures:
Curbing police excesses in Pakistani style
On
19 November 2004, Law Ministry of Pakistan proposed several amendments
in existing laws to provide speedy justice to people and stop police
excesses against citizens in the country. The amendments proposed
seven years of imprisonment for public servants, particularly police
officials for keeping citizens in illegal confinement, punish trespassers
intent on dispossessing any person of immovable property with 10
years of imprisonment and stop the shifting of condemned prisoners
to death cells without the confirmation of the sentence by any high
court. “To safeguard the rights of women, the law relating to bail
will also be amended so that women can be released on bail where
the punishment is less than 10 years.”
Yet,
without “independent complaints bodies and bodies with authority
to inspect any place of detention, whose members would include persons
acceptable to the local community” as recommended by the UN Special
Rapporteur on Torture in his report (E/CN.4/1997/7/Add.2) after
a field visit to Pakistan, the proposed amendments are unlikely
to address the menace of torture and other police excesses in the
country. Torture is prohibited under Pakistan's criminal justice
system and Sharia laws. Article 14 (2) of the Constitution of Pakistan
provides that "No person shall be subjected to torture for
the purpose of extracting evidence". Article 38 the Law of
Evidence also provides the safeguard that "no confession made to a police officer shall be permissible
against a person accused of any offence". Article 39 of the
Law of Evidence further provides that "no confession made by
any person whilst he is in custody of a police officer unless it
be made in the immediate presence of a Magistrate shall be proved
as against such person." Under the Qisas and Diyat
Ordinances, the causing of hurt by any person to extort "any
confession or any information which may lead to the detection of
any offence or misconduct" is defined as a distinct punishable
offence.
However,
such constitutional guarantees are regularly violated. A nation
that has seen more years of military rule than civilian administration
is plagued by arbitrariness and tyranny of the rulers and the state
agencies-most particularly the security agencies. Perpetrators of
torture who act in the name of enforcement of the law and order
enjoy impunity.
Around
5,000 cases of torture at police stations and 45 deaths in police
custody were reported in 2003. According to a report compiled by
the NGO, Madadgaar, in the first six months of 2004 alone,
318 cases of police excesses and torture have been reported. Of
these, vast majority have been reported from Punjab and Sindh, respectively
with 188 and 112 cases. A study of some of the cases reveals
the exact scenario of torture in Pakistan.
On
20 October 2004, Chief Justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court, Justice
Nazim Hussain Siddiqui asked the Lahore High Court chief justice
to take cognizance of an application seeking action against police
officials involved in stripping and then parading a girl in public
at Madni Colony in Faqir Wali Bahawalnagar district. After humiliating
the girl, the police also registered a false case under Hudood ordinance
against the girl, who is a daughter of a blind person.
On
7 October 2004, additional Station House Officer (SHO) Ghulam Mohammad
Channa, Sub-Inspector Amanullah Mirani, head constable Azam Junejo,
and constables Mohammad Ali Narejo, Haji Khuhro and Rasheed Kalhoro,
posted at Gambat police station in Khairpur reportedly took away
two young girls, Afshan and Basheeran, forcibly from their house,
lodged them in the house of the sub-inspector, and raped them. The
perpetrators also snatched gold ornaments and wristwatches.
On
30 August 2004, 10 policemen from Sadiqabad police station in Rahim
Yar Khan allegedly kidnapped a woman and raped her. The victim was
returning to her house from the market by a motor-rickshaw when
three policemen in plainclothes boarded the vehicle and asked the
driver to divert to Rashidabad. She was taken to a vacant house
and gang raped. Later on, the policemen took her to another house
near Ghalla Mandi where seven other policemen were waiting for them.
They also raped her. The victim identified two policemen as Nasir
Majeed and Zafar. However, the police refused to register a case
against their colleagues on the report of the victim’s husband.
On
1 July 2004, one Saifullah died in the custody of the Mangatawala
police station under Nankana Sahib tehsil in Lahor. He was taken
into custody allegedly 10 days before his death. He was severely
tortured for 10 days that led to his death. The police allegedly
did not record the arrest and detention of the deceased till his
death. An FIR (No. 211/04) was registered only when he died of the
torture. According to the police, Saifullah died at the police station
about two-and-a-half hours (10:15pm) after his arrest on 1 July
2004.
On
14 March 2004, Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Allah Ditta, ASI Zafarullah
Khan and other policemen barged into the homes of Hussaini, Ayesha
and other residents of Begum Kot, Shahdara and took their six children
- Muhammad Mehmood, Allah Rakha, Naik Muhammad, Manga, Muhammad
Shahid and Muhammad Sarwar to the police station. The Station House
Officer, Mr Rana Amjad Ali released Muhammad Shahid and Muhammad
Sarwar in exchange for Rs 10,000 and demanded another Rs 5,000 to
release the others. Mr Haji Muhammad Nawaz Malik of the special
monitoring cell, who raided the police station 30 March 2004 on
the direction of the Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi recovered
the captive children. Mr Malik found five others - Haider Ali, Muhammad
Saleem, Muhammad Toheed, Muhammad Shafique and Saleem Ahmad – locked
up in the police station, of whose arrest Shahdara police had no
record.
On
29 February 2004, Ramzan Riaz Khan of Khazana Dheri was arrested
by the policeman posted at Fazal Hague police post in Mardan on
the charges of possessing a small quantity of charas (marijuana).
The police personnel allegedly severely tortured Khan during interrogation
that led to his death in the lock-up on 30 February 2004.
On
2 January 2004, Choti Zaireen police in Dera Ghazi Khan led by SHO
Iqbal Chandia picked up Saifullah Dhandhla along with four other
youngsters from a snooker club when the police were forcing shopkeepers
to close their shops for Friday prayers. The police severely beat
up the youngsters in which one of the boys, Saifullah Dhandhla sustained
serious injuries. They then took him to the Rural Health Centre
in a state of coma. Later, he was referred to the Dera DHQ Hospital
from where he was shifted to the Nishtar where he died on 19 March
2004.
Torture
by policemen in Pakistan is so rampant that the Chief Justice of
Pakistan's Supreme Court, Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui was forced
to take suo motu action against police excesses on 4 October
2004 in response to a column published in an Urdu daily depicting
the ordeal of one Haji Tariqur Rehman who was tortured by the police
of Mandi Farooqabad district, Sheikhupura because of the failure
to offer bribe for the release of his brother. According to former
member of the National Assembly and an official of the Human Rights
Council of Pakistan, Mumtaz Ahmed Tarar, “Law protectors have become
the main symbol of brutality.” Mumtaz Ahmed Tarar further stated
the situation have gone from bad to worse after the implementation
of the Police Order in 1999 although the sentence term for policemen
found torturing citizens was raised to five years. Unless Pakistan
establishes independent complaints bodies and bodies with authority
to inspect any place of detention, the situation is unlikely to
improve. The ratification of the UN Convention Against Torture and
its Optional Protocol and incorporation of these provisions into
domestic laws are indispensable for combating torture in Pakistan.
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