PPP to bring law on torture by state institutions

ISLAMABAD: The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Tuesday announced that his party will bring legislation in the Parliament to end the practice torture ‘at the hands of state institutions’.

“PPP will bring legislation in Parliament to end the barbaric practice of torture at the hands of the state. Police, agencies & NAB all have a long and sordid history of such practices. We know it is still on going. No civilised democratic country functions this way,” he said in a tweet.

Following Bilawal’s tweet, PPP Central Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira at a press conference at the National Press Club announced that the PPP will bring a bill in the National Assembly to end the practice torture at the hands of the state institutions. Kaira was accompanied by the PPP Secretary General for Central Punjab Chaudhry Manzoor, Information Secretary Dr Nafeesa Shah and Deputy Secretary Information Palwasha Khan.

Kaira said the torture through state institutions like of NAB, police and other states agencies has become a routine even in the democratic era.

“Pakistan had already signed anti-torture convention,” he said, adding that the PPP in 2016 presented the bill to end the torture on the arrested persons in the Senate which had passed it, but it did not go through the National Assembly.

Kaira said Mian Javed, a professor of Sargodha University, was killed and Brig (R) Asad Munir committed suicide due to pressure from NAB.

He said the background of Interior Minister Brig (R) Ijaz Shah is having a mindset of continuation of practice of the state torture. He said the interior minister is threatening the people that if they came out on the road on the call of the opposition then they would be baton charged. He said last week Chairman National Commission for Human Rights wrote a letter to Chairman NAB that he wanted to visit the detention centre of the NAB but he was not allowed. Kaira said the Chief Justice of Pakistan should take a notice of this issue.