I wonder what government is doing to stop this violation of human rights?
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\10\01\story_1-10-2007_pg7_25
Police torture 92pc detained men, 8pc women: survey
- 18.6 percent of prisoners subjected to ‘mechanical torture’
By Muzaffar Ali
LAHORE: A study on prisons has revealed that 91.54 percent of detained men and 8.46 percent detained women are victims of physical torture by the police.
It also revealed that 12.14 percent of detained women were subjected to psychological torture by the police.
Dr Waseem Haider, a PhD student at the University of Health Sciences (UHS), conducted the survey. In the survey, 1,820 cases were examined at the office of the Surgeon Medico Legal for alleged police torture in the past five years.
Dr Waseem said women were being tortured all over the world. He said men subjected women to violence at home, atrocities in war and abuse when jailed.
The study revealed that 16.42 percent of youth aged between 15 to 19, 25.38 percent adults aged between 20 to 24 and 18.9 percent of adults aged between 25 to 29 years were tortured by the police. He said 18.62 percent of detainees were subject to mechanical violence – all forms of violence besides domestic violence - and blunt tools were most commonly used.
He said the reason for uncontrolled physical torture was the non-professional attitude of the police towards the prisoners. He alleged people were not inducted in the police on merit.
He also said the labor class followed by the business community was most tortured by the police. He also said more people in the rural areas were subjected to torture as compared to the urban areas.
He said that another important aspect of the study was the authorisation for the medico legal examination. He said victims often went to the judiciary in such cases.
He said 72.64 percent of the victims had gone to the judiciary after their torture and were allowed to be examined by the Medico Legal Department.
**He said torture techniques such as rolling heavy objects over the prisoners, jumping on them, placing them on ice blocks, hanging them by their arms and hanging them upside down was observed in a few cases.
He pointed out that parts of the body most frequently targeted by torture were:
buttocks, foot soles, back, front and back of thighs, palms and wrists. He said the most common tool used to inflict pain was the cane stick and a broad flat leather slipper (dipped in mustard oil to inflict maximum pain).**
He said law forbade torture and degrading people, but this had not deterred the police from committing such acts. He also said torture was prohibited under Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).