Human rights situation grim in Pakistan, says Amnesty

The human rights situation in Pakistan is ''persistently grim'' and torture is widespread, leading to scores of deaths every year, according to Amnesty International.

In its latest report Pakistan: Time to take human rights seriously, the human rights watchdog says scores of people are ''extrajudicially executed'' and armed groups take hostage of dissidents and political opponents, some of whom are tortured and killed.

It says that over the years, no government has taken human rights protection and promotion in the country seriously, even those which promised reforms.

''A culture of violence is all-pervasive. Elected governments have failed to repair the damage, engaging in the politics of revenge and neglecting deep-seated social and economic problems. A small political elite has retained its monopoly on power, behaving as if there is one law for the rulers and another for the ruled. None of the organs of the state, including the judiciary, has worked consistently to ensure that the rule of law is respected,'' the report stated.

Accusing police officials of links with criminals, failing to protect the rule of law and using unlawful methods, the report hinted at custodial deaths and that suspects were ''hunted them down in encounters''.

''Others have helped politicians, local members of parliament and big landlords in unlawful activities, whether these be by terrorising opponents or bonded labour, covering up a crime or registering false criminal charges against an opponent.''

The report quotes the inspector general of police of Sindh province as saying that about 500 members of his police force were dismissed because they had close links with the criminals they were recruited to fight. Also, the inspector general of Punjab province has said that in the previous years an estimated 25,000 police officers had been recruited through quotas allotted to politicians.

According to the Amnesty report, the ''police use the gun rather than arrest'' to ensure punishments, giving the argument that trial takes years to conclude and that witnesses could be bought.

Amnesty says that police brutality has its roots in corruption and political appointments. ''Their mentors are unlikely to ensure the police personnel responsible for human rights violations are brought to justice.''

Presenting a bleak picture of the country's economic situation the report says that economic development had bypassed the vast majority of the population and illiteracy and discrimination persisted. ''The benefits of economic growth do not touch most of the population as too few resources are put into job creation, education and health care,'' it claimed.

While a small group grows increasingly rich, about 35 million people in the country live in absolute poverty. Sixty million people do not have access to any health facilities, 67 million people are without safe drinking water and 89 million people, without basic sanitation facilities, it said.

The report said ethnic and religious rivalries between Sindhis and Mohajirs had resulted in hundreds of deaths, and clashes between Shias and Sunnis had claimed 350 lives in 1996, often during attacks on places of worship.

Armed forces remain a taboo subject for the media, and abuses ascribed to soldiers were rarely reported, seldom investigated or brought to trial.

The caretaker government of prime minister Meraj Khalid, in January 1997, gave the army a permanent and visible role in a newly-established council of defence and national security, which is to advise the government on matters of national interest.

The report says that the two main political parties -- the Pakistan Muslim League and the Pakistan Peoples Party -- had failed to ''mend the torn fabric of the state''.

''The party in office has endeavoured to incapacitate political opponents by subjecting them to false criminal charges, arbitrary arrests, torture, intimidation and lures or threats to change allegiance.''

Even the judiciary has not been spared and successive governments have continued attempts to keep higher judiciary under executive control.

The report says that in the second half of 1996, three of the four provincial high courts were headed by acting chief justices and there was a plethora of acting or temporary judges, all of whom had to assume that their services would be terminated if their rulings did not please Islamabad.

In November 1996, at the time of the dismissal of the PPP government of Benazir Bhutto, the Lahore high court had only 33 permanent judges even though the officially sanctioned number was set at 50. These 33 judges faced a backlog of 65,000 cases. The situation in other courts was similar: of a total of 113 posts of the higher judiciary, 38 were left unfilled.