Pakistan has not introduced a specific crime of torture in its national legislation, the burden of proof still lies with the torture victim and there is no independent investigation unit to examine allegations of torture. The country has ratified the Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 2010 but has received a lot of criticism for numerous reservations on several important articles. Despite the withdrawal of some of these reservations, participants of the conference in Lahore reiterated their call for a full implementation of the CAT.
Several areas were identified as problematic. According to the chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) state-sponsored violence is on the rise, particularly torture in custody, extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances. Several participants claimed that during the last ten years, 10,421 cases of torture in police custody had been reported.
Daily Times: Civil society, NGOs for forming alliance against torture on prisoners
AHRC: Civil society resolves to form a greater alliance against State torture
