Human Rights and Democracy - Official Documents

enforced disappearances involving hundreds of specific individuals. The
government, military and intelligence agencies were called before the Supreme
Court and several people were released from illegal detention. The Ministry of
Interior established a cell to examine the remaining “missing persons” and committed
to work with all parts of the security apparatus to report back on the whereabouts of
these individuals. The UK, alongside EU partners, supported these moves towards
greater transparency and continued to advocate full disclosure of the whereabouts of
all those missing.
Death penalty
Twenty-seven offences carry the death penalty in Pakistan, and the country has
more than 7,000 inmates on death row. There is significant public support for capital
punishment, including for blasphemy offences. However, in 2010, no one was
executed by the state. In October 2009, the prime minister began a consultation with
provincial governments about the legislation governing the use of the death penalty.
This consultation is ongoing and there is a de facto moratorium on its use. We
welcomed this, but continued to work with civil society, and lobby the government
and parliament – alongside the EU – to reform the relevant legislation with a view to
abolishing the death penalty.
Torture and other ill treatment
The media and civil society made regular allegations of torture in 2010. Torture is
prohibited under the constitution of Pakistan. A large number of these alleged
incidents are reported to have occurred in police or security agency custody during
attempts to extract confessions or force cooperation with an investigation. Similar
abuse has also been widely reported in prisons, perpetrated by both officers and
inmates.
The extent of such abuse is hard to determine given the nature of the problem and
the lack of accurate data, but the number of allegations remained fairly consistent.
In 2010 the Pakistani government ratified the Convention against Torture and the
Ministry of Human Rights is clear that its intention is to prevent such mistreatment of
individuals. However, by the end of 2010 Pakistan had yet to withdraw or amend the
reservations it had lodged against some of the core provisions of this treaty when
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