Islamabad, July 31, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Despite Pakistan’s introduction of anti-torture legislation in 2022, reports of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment continue in detention facilities across the country, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said.
The rights body attributed the continued violations to weak implementation of the law, inadequate safeguards and a lack of accountability mechanisms.
The concerns were raised during a roundtable organised under HRCP’s ‘Against Torture’ campaign, which brought together legal experts, government representatives and civil society members to discuss challenges in preventing torture and ensuring accountability.
HRCP Council member and former chairperson Hina Jilani said preventing not only physical torture but also psychological torture and other forms of ill-treatment was essential, as their consequences could be equally severe and long-lasting.
She emphasised that without clear procedures and practical guidelines for law enforcement agencies to identify, investigate, document and respond to allegations of torture, existing laws would remain ineffective.
Pakistani lawyer Asad Jamal referred to observations made by the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT), noting that several concerns raised during Pakistan’s previous review in 2017 continued to remain unresolved during the latest review in 2026.
The CAT had earlier expressed concern over reports of torture, ill-treatment and alleged retaliation against human rights defenders, civil society activists, journalists, lawyers, political opponents, protesters and other critics of the government.
Jamal said the persistence of such allegations indicated that structural issues enabling torture had not been adequately addressed. He called for clear safeguards against arbitrary detention, reforms to prison rules in line with human rights standards and greater compliance with international obligations.
HRCP Council member Farhatullah Babar also raised concerns over the use of internment centres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, stating that such facilities should either be abolished or brought under the civilian prison system with independent civilian oversight.
He further urged Pakistan to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which would enable regular and unannounced inspections of detention facilities through a national preventive mechanism.
Last month, HRCP had written to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressing concern over what it described as widespread physical and psychological torture in detention centres across Pakistan.
The organisation said the absence of effective monitoring and reporting systems had made the actual scale of torture and ill-treatment difficult to assess, limiting accountability and access to justice for victims.
FOLLOW NOW
