CAT/C/PAK/CO/1 safeguards against torture that are otherwise provided to persons deprived of their liberty. That legislation allows security agencies and civil armed forces to detain any person suspected of committing an offence under the Act for up to three months without review or the possibility of lodging a habeas petition, and allows the detention without trial of up to a year of any person suspected of being involved in the activities of a proscribed organization. The Committee is also concerned that the Act allows courts to admit confessions as evidence as long as the district superintendent of police was present when the accused confessed, in contrast with civil courts where confessions are admissible in court only if they are made to a magistrate. The Committee is deeply concerned that the State party has authorized military courts to try civilians for terrorism-related offences, most recently in 2017 under the twenty-third amendment to the Constitution, particularly in view of the lack of independence of military court judges, which are within the military hierarchy. The Committee is also deeply concerned about the practices of such courts, including the holding of closed trials. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned by the very broad powers given to the Army to detain people suspected of involvement in terrorist activities without charge or judicial supervision in internment centres under the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation, 2011 (arts. 2 and 15). 13. The Committee recalls that article 2 (2) of the Convention indicates that no exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be invoked as a justification of torture. In its general comment No. 2 (2007) on the implementation of article 2, the Committee states that exceptional circumstances include any threat of terrorist acts. In that regard, the Committee urges the State party to: (a) Repeal or amend the Anti-terrorism Act and other relevant legislation to ensure that all persons deprived of their liberty have access to legal safeguards against torture, including prompt presentation before a magistrate and the possibility of a habeas petition, and to ensure that confessions obtained without the presence of a magistrate are inadmissible as evidence; (b) Put an end to the use of military courts for terrorism-related prosecutions, transfer criminal cases brought against civilians from military courts to civil courts and provide the opportunity for appeal in civil courts of cases involving civilians that have already been adjudicated under military jurisdiction; (c) Repeal or amend the Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Regulation, 2011 in order to remove the power of the military to establish internment centres in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas, and ensure that no one is held in secret or incommunicado detention anywhere in the territory of the State party, as detaining individuals in such conditions constitutes per se a violation of the Convention. So long as such internment centres remain in operation, ensure that independent monitors and family members of those detained are able to access those places of detention. Definition and criminalization of torture 14. While noting that article 14 (2) of the Constitution of Pakistan prohibits torture for the purpose of extracting information, that certain provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code punish infliction of “hurt” and that the Police Order 2002 punishes torture by police officers, the Committee is concerned that the State party’s legislation fails to provide a specific definition of torture that incorporates its various elements, as defined in article 1 of the Convention, and fails to explicitly criminalize it as required under articles 2 (1) and 4 of the Convention. The Committee is also concerned that a bill on torture, custodial death and custodial rape (prevention and punishment) has been pending before the parliament for several years without being adopted (arts. 1-2 and 4). 15. The Committee urges the State party to take the necessary measures to incorporate into its legislation a specific definition of torture that covers all the elements of the definition contained in article 1 of the Convention and establishes penalties that are commensurate with the gravity of the act of torture. The Committee encourages the State party to review the torture, custodial death and custodial rape 4