Recent cases of custodial deaths have angered the Pakistani people, who are demanding immediate justice for the victims. But reforming the "police torture culture" would be a mammoth task. Haroon Janjua reports.
Image: Privat
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Muhammad Afzaal, an elderly man with a long white beard, is sitting among a group of mourners in his home in the Gorali village of Punjab's Gujranwala district, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. All these people are mourning the death of Salahuddin Ayubi, Afzaal's mentally disabled son, who was allegedly tortured to death in police custody.
60-year-old Afzaal tells DW he learnt about the news of his son's arrest on August 30 after a local news channel showed Ayubi breaking into a bank's ATM counter. A video of Ayubi mocking the CCTV camera went viral on social media. Later, police officials arrested the 27-year-old.
"They brutally murdered my son," Afzaal said.
"I saw the torture marks on my son's body. His right arm was burnt, either with hot water or electric shocks. There were bruises on his entire body," Afzaal said.
Punjab police denied torturing Ayubi and said he died a natural death. The authorities said he was behaving like a "mad person" and fell unconscious when they brought him to hospital.
"We condemn any form of violence and torture. It could be an individual act. We are investigating whether a police official was responsible for Ayubi's death," Inam Ghani, a spokesman for Punjab police, told DW.
"To avoid such acts in the future, we are introducing changes to make the police force more people-friendly and helpful," Ghani added.
A forensic report on Tuesday confirmed that Ayubi died of physical and mental torture.
Deaths in police custody
There is no credible data available on custodial deaths in Pakistan, but human rights groups point to a spike in police torture cases. They say that the "culture" of police torture is more prevalent in Pakistan's most populous Punjab province than in other parts of the country.
Ayubi's death has put a spotlight on the issue of custodial deaths in the South Asian nation.
"Ayubi's death in custody is not the first case of police torture. Custodial torture is actually a routine in Pakistan," Usama Khawar, a lawyer hired by Afzaal, told DW.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that members of marginalized communities are particularly at risk of police abuse.
"A lack of accountability in police excesses has fostered a culture of impunity. Pakistani police are often under-resourced and ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of the modern world. The police force needs to be modernized, and police officials involved in custodial deaths and other rights violations should be held accountable through a transparent and efficient mechanism," Saroop Ijaz, a Pakistan researcher for HRW, told DW.
Pakistan: A decade of deadly terrorist attacks
Radical groups have killed thousands of people since Pakistan joined the United States and its allies in a war against terror in 2001. Here is a look at some of the major terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the last decade.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Khan
2007 - Twin blasts rock Karachi on former PM’s return
Two bomb blasts struck former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s motorcade on October 18, 2007 in the southern port city of Karachi. Bhutto was returning to Pakistan after almost eight years. The attack left 139 people dead. Bhutto, the first democratically elected female head of an Islamic country, died in an attack two months later, on December 27 in the northern city of Rawalpindi.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/N. Khawer
2008 - Wah bombing
The Wah bombing was a double suicide attack on the Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF) in Wah on August 21, 2008. At least 64 people died in the attack, which remains to date the deadliest on a military site in Pakistan's history. A spokesman from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Khan
2008 - Insurgents target luxury hotel in the capital
At least 60 people died and over 200 were injured when a truck filled with explosives detonated in front of the Marriot Hotel on September 20, 2008, in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. Five foreign nationals were among the casualties, while another 15 were injured.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Matthys
2009 - Peshawar bombing
A car bomb was detonated in Mina Bazar (a market for women and children) in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The bomb killed 125 people and injured more than 200 others. The Pakistani government put the blame on the Taliban, but both Taliban and al-Qaida denied involvement in the attack.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A Majeed
2009 - Market in Lahore targeted
The December 2009 Lahore attacks were a series of two bomb blasts and a shooting which occurred in a crowded market in the country’s second largest city of Lahore on December 7. At least 66 people were killed. Most of the victims were women.
Image: DW/T.Shahzad
2010 - Suicide bomber targets volleyball match
A suicide car bomb killed 101 people at a village volleyball game in the northwestern district of Bannu.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/N. Azam
2010 - Lahore Massacre
The May 2010 Lahore attacks also referred to as the Lahore Massacre occurred on May 28, 2010, during Friday prayers. 82 people were killed in simultaneous attacks against two mosques of the Ahmadi minority. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Image: Getty Images/N. Ijaz
2010 – Bomber targets market in tribal area
A suicide bomber killed 105 people in a busy market in the northwestern tribal district of Mohmand. The suicide bombing occurred on July 9 in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. The target of the attack was believed to be a meeting of tribal elders. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Majeed
2011 - Police training center in Charsadda attacked
A double bombing occurred on May 13, 2011, in Shabqadar Fort in the Charsadda District of northwestern Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Two suicide bombers killed at least 98 people outside the police training center. At least 140 people were injured. The explosions occurred while cadets were getting into buses for a ten day leave after their training course.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/H. Ahmed
2013 - Peshawar church bombing
On September 22, 2013, a twin suicide attack took place at All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan. It was the deadliest attack on the Christian minority in the country, killing 82 people. The TTP-linked Islamist group, Jundalah, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Khan
2014 - Peshawar school massacre
On December 16, 2014, seven gunmen affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The militants opened fire on school staff and children, killing 154 people, including 132 school children. This was the deadliest terrorist attack ever to occur in the country.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/A Majeed
2015 – Gunmen target bus in Karachi
Eight gunmen attacked a bus on May 13, 2015, in Safoora Goth, in Karachi, Pakistan. The shooting left at least 46 people dead. All of the victims were from the Ismaili Shia Muslim minority. Banned militant group Jundallah claimed responsibility for the shooting. Also, pamphlets supporting the Islamic State terrorist group, with whom Jundallah claims allegiance, were found at the crime scene.
Image: STR/AFP/Getty Images
2016 – Lahore park bombing
On March 27, 2016, at least 75 people were killed in a suicide bombing that hit one of the largest parks in Lahore. The attack targeted Christians who were celebrating Easter. Fourteen of the dead were identified as Christians, while the rest were Muslims. The majority of victims were women and children. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a group affiliated with the TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Ali
2016 – Quetta hospital bombing
On August 8, 2016, terrorists targeted the Government Hospital of Quetta in Pakistan with a suicide bombing and shooting that resulted in the death of over 70 People. The fatalities were mainly lawyers who had assembled at the hospital where the body of fellow attorney, Bilal Anwar Kasi, president of the Balochistan Bar Association, was brought after he was shot dead by an unknown gunman.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Khan
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Rights activists say that Pakistan lacks comprehensive legislation to prevent and criminalize police torture. Although the Police Order 2002 prohibits torture and imposes a penalty on police officials committing torture, most police officials consider themselves above the law. There is a lack of accountability in the police force.
"Police officials involved in torture should be brought to justice, but unfortunately not a single police official in confirmed torture cases was held accountable for his actions. This shows that we don't have independent district and provincial monitoring bodies that can investigate torture allegations," Sarah Belal, the executive director of Justice Project Pakistan, told DW.
Earlier this year, police officials killed several members of the same family in Punjab's Sahiwal town on terrorism suspicion. Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the killings and promised to initiate police reforms to avoid torture and extrajudicial killings.
"I will review the entire structure of Punjab police and start process of reforming it," Khan said in January.
But so far, no action has been taken in this regard.
Experts say that police reforms would be a long-term measure; for the short term, it is vital to pass a law to criminalize all kinds of torture, institute legal safeguards for the protection of witnesses and victims of torture, and form independent bodies to investigate torture cases.
"There is definitely a need to reform police that consider torture an 'effective method' to curb crime," underlined Belal. "Trainings, of course, can be an effective medium to sensitize police officials and make them understand that the job of police is to protect citizens and not control them," she added.
Police spokesperson Ghani says that people will soon "see positive changes in police," although to reform the entire policing system would not be easy.
