The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Tuesday, 21 July warned that torture and custodial abuse remain 'endemic' across Pakistan's criminal justice system, routinely inflicted in lockups, prisons, and interrogation rooms — and called on the government in Islamabad to urgently overhaul the country's legal safeguards against such practices.

What the HRCP Is Demanding

The rights body urged authorities to amend Pakistan's Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act, 2022 to explicitly recognise psychological torture as a distinct criminal offence. It also called for independent investigative frameworks, insulated from law enforcement agencies that may themselves be implicated in abuse.

The HRCP further demanded systematic monitoring and reporting mechanisms, arguing that the current absence of such systems has left the true scale of torture in detention facilities largely invisible to policymakers, civil society, and international accountability bodies.

Key Findings: Survivors and Official Data

'Evidence from survivors and even official data indicate that torture is endemic in Pakistan's criminal justice system, inflicted daily in lockups, prisons, and interrogation rooms. For those who survive the practice, physical wounds may heal; psychological ones often do not. Survivors carry post-traumatic stress and a profound loss of dignity. Families of the disappeared or dead carry grief without justice,' the HRCP stated.

The commission noted that the damage extends well beyond individual victims, corroding institutional credibility. 'Courts accept torture-extracted evidence, legitimising abuse within the justice system itself,' it added, warning that normalisation of such practices 'brutalises both society and the perpetrator.'

Pakistan's Legal Framework: Ratified but Weakly Enforced

Pakistan ratified the UN Convention against Torture in 2010 and enacted the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act in 2022 to meet its international obligations. However, according to the HRCP, the legislation remains inadequate and is weakly enforced, with perpetrators rarely held accountable.

'Torture is fundamentally illegal. Yet, where it persists unchecked, it becomes institutionalised. Interrogators are trained in its methods, facilities are designated for its practice, and denial is made standard policy. This normalisation reveals how deeply state power has corroded the guardrails meant to constrain it,' the HRCP stated.

Earlier Letter to PM Shehbaz Sharif

The Tuesday statement follows a letter the HRCP sent last month to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, expressing grave concern over the widespread use of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment — both physical and psychological — in detention facilities across the country. The letter, timed to coincide with the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, reiterated that Pakistan's existing legal framework is insufficient to prevent such acts.

What Comes Next

The HRCP has made clear it will not accept silence on the issue. 'Torture thrives in darkness and impunity. We refuse that silence,' the commission declared. Pressure is now mounting on the Sharif administration to respond with concrete legislative action and enforceable accountability mechanisms — steps that critics argue have been conspicuously absent despite years of documented abuse.