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PAKISTAN: A 10-year-old boy and his father severely tortured by police officers

September 29, 2003

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

30 September 2003

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UA-55-2003: PAKISTAN: A 10-year-old boy and his father severely tortured by police officers

PAKISTAN: Severe violation of Child Rights; Illegal arrest; Torture
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Dear friends

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the police illegally arrested and severely tortured 10-year-old Tasawar Abbas, in order to know the whereabouts of his elder brother even though he did not commit any crime. His father, who was accused of illegally cutting grass from the landlord's field, was also tortured at the police station. It is a brutal human rights violation and the AHRC requests your action to correct this matter immediately.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission
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Name of victim: Tassawar Abbas (10 years old), Pathana Abbas
Period of detention and torture: Around 19 September 2003 (exact date is not confirmed yet)
Perpetrators: Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) Muhammad Khan, Constable Ejaz Ahmed from the Qadirpur Police Station

DETAILED INFORMATION:

The arrest and torture of a 10-year-old boy, who committed no crime, occurred at the Qadirpur police station in Jhang District. Around 19 September 2003, police officers from the Qadirpur police station, led by assistant sub inspector (ASI) Muhammad Khan, came to the house of Pathana Abbas, a poor labour, to arrest him and his son Ramzan Abbas. They were suspected of illegally cutting grass from the landlord's farms. However, Ramzan, who works in a Gujranwala woolen mill, was not at home, and so instead the police arrested his 10-year-old younger brother, Tassawar Abbas. Both of them were taken to the Qadirpur police station lock-up.

At midnight, the two were taken to the interrogation room, where ASI Muhammad Khan and Constable Ejaz Ahmed allegedly beat both of the victims in order to find out the whereabouts of Ramzan Abbas. They particularly targeted the 10-year-old boy Tassawar Abbas. The reason for severely torturing the boy rather than his father, as stated by a police station source on condition of anonymity, was that the father was suffering from tuberculosis and the police was reluctant to torture him severely. Relatives of victims asked a local notable to persuade the police to set the boy free. The boy and his father were eventually released.

According to the information received, a human rights NGO in Jhang District is taking care of the victims, and they were presented to the District Police Officer on 25 September 2003. Tasawar and his father were presented shortly before the District Police Officer on 26 September 2003 and the ASI Muhammad Khan, who tortured them, has been suspended. However, the police have not taken any serious action to investigate this case and they have not even registered it.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write a letter or email to the addresses below and express your concern over this serious case. A sample letter is attached.

1. General Pervez Musharraf
President
Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835
Email: CE@pak.gov.pk

2. Mr. Moinuddin Haider
Minister of Interior
Faisal Saleh Hayat, Ministry of Interior,
Block R, Federal Secretariat, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: 92-51-9202624
Email: minister@interior.gov.pk or secretary@interior.gov

3. Mr. Chaudhary Pervez Elahi
Chief Minister of Punjap State
30-C, Ch. Zahur Elahi Road,
Gulberg-II, Lahore
Punjap State
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 42 9200016 / 9200093

4. Zaman Khan
Complaint Cell
National Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Aiwan-i-Jahmoor, 107-Tipu Block
New Garden Town,
Lahore-54600,
PAKISTAN
Telephone: +92 42 583-8341, 586-4994
Fax: +92 42 588-3582
E-mail: zaman@hrcp-web

5. Syed Sultan Shah
Joint Secretary for Law, Justice and Human Rights
Tel: + 92 51 920 3464
Fax: + 92 51 9203119

6. Home Secretary
Government of Punjap
Tel: +92 42 9211734 or 9211735
Fax: +92 42 9211732

7. Inspector General of the Police, Punjap State
Tel: +92 42 9210062 or 9210063
Fax: +92 42 9211732

8. Central Police Offices (CPO)-I Exchange, Punjap State
Tel: +92 42 9210056 or 9210057
Fax: +92 42 9211732

9. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9016
E-mail: secrt.hchr@unog.ch

Suggested letter:

Dear

RE: Illegal arrest and barbaric torture of 10 year-old-boy, Tasawar Abbas, by the police officers from the Qadirpur Police Station

Name of victim: Tassawar Abbas (10 years old), Pathana Abbas
Period of detention and torture: Around 19 September 2003 (exact date is not confirmed yet)
Perpetrators: Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) Muhammad Khan, Constable Ejaz Ahmed from the Qadirpur Police Station

I am writing to bring to your attention to the severe torture of 10-year-old boy, Tassawar Abbas and his father Pathana Abbas. The police tortured both of them. They particularly targeted the 10-year-old boy Tassawar Abbas to find out the whereabouts of his elder brother, who was suspected by the police, even though this poor boy commited no crime.

According to the information received, around 19 September 2003, police officers from the Qadirpur police station, led by assistant sub inspector (ASI) Muhammad Khan, came to the house of Pathana Abbas to arrest him and his son Ramzan Abbas. When they could not find Ramzan, instead the police arrested his younger brother, Tassawar Abbas. After they brought the victims to the police station, Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) Muhammad Khan and Constable Ejaz Ahmed beat both of victims to find out the whereabouts of Ramzan Abbas. In particular, the 10-year-old Tassawar Abbas was severely tortured by them. Both of them were released but the police have not taken any serious action to correct this matter and they have not even registered it. It is very worried of the police's inaction on this case.

I strongly urge you to conduct immediate and impartial investigation on this serious case and to bring the perpetrators before court as soon as possible. I also urge you to take all possible steps to ensure the victims' security. I further urge the Pakistan government to compensate Tassawar Abbas and his father Pathana Abbas according to international law. The Pakistan government should declare the torture as a 'crime' and take strong and speedy action to eliminate torture, which has been frequently happened at the police station.

Sincerely yours,



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Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-55-2003
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.