Open letter to the Prime Minister on closing the gaps in Pakistan’s anti-torture framework

The Honourable Prime Minister
Mr Shehbaz Sharif
Government of Pakistan

26 June 2026

Excellency:

On International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) wishes to draw your attention to the prevalence of all forms of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment—both physical and psychological—across detention facilities in the country as well as shortcomings in Pakistan’s legal framework for preventing such acts.

While the passage of the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act (TCDA) 2022 was a landmark step, we regret that the law’s definition of torture omits, without justification, mental and psychological pain and suffering, thereby excluding practices such as threats of death or serious harm, intimidation, coercion, humiliation, mock executions, threats against family members, and prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement.

The TCDA also grants exclusive investigative jurisdiction to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)—whose senior officers are drawn from the police service itself—without providing adequate safeguards against the conflict of interest that this arrangement invariably generates.

Although the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) is tasked with overseeing investigations, concerns over the FIA’s independence continue to undermine accountability, while the supervisory role of the NCHR remains ambiguous.

Moreover, without systematic monitoring and reporting, the scale of torture and ill-treatment in places of deprivation of liberty remains largely unknown to policymakers and inaccessible to civil society and international accountability mechanisms.

HRCP urges the Government of Pakistan to:

1. Amend the TCDA to expressly recognize mental and psychological pain and suffering as a constituent element of torture, establish criminal liability and proportionate penalties for acts of psychological torture, and ensure that victims of psychological torture have access to effective remedies, rehabilitation, and reparations in line with Pakistan’s obligations under the Convention against Torture.

2. Amend the TCDA and the 2025 Rules to establish independent, prompt, and effective investigations of torture allegations, remove procedural barriers that cause undue delays, clarify the oversight powers of the NCHR and ensure that no institution implicated in allegations of torture exercises exclusive control over the investigative process.

3. Ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) and designate a credible and independent national mechanism for regular monitoring, with findings made public and acted on.

Asad Iqbal Butt
Chairperson
On behalf of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

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