A/HRC/19/61/Add.4
Rapporteur urges the Government of Oman to end the practice of incommunicado
detention.
Pakistan
(a) JUA 23/12/2010 Case No. PAK 16/2010 State reply: 30/12/2010, 08/04/2011 Alleged
arbitrary detention, torture and imposition of death sentence.
123. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Pakistan for its two responses to
this communication regarding the alleged arbitrary detention, torture, and imposition of
death sentence on Mr. Sarabjit Singh. Regrettably, the Government‟s response failed to
address the allegation that Mr. Singh‟s whereabouts remained unknown for the first 9
months after his arrest on 30 August 1990. In view of these allegations, the Special
Rapporteur notes that paragraph 8(b) of Human Rights Council Resolution 16/23 of 12
April 2011 asserts that “[p]rolonged incommunicado detention or detention in secret places
can facilitate the perpetration of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment and can in itself constitute a form of such treatment, and urges all States to
respect the safeguards concerning the liberty, security and the dignity of the person and to
ensure that secret places of detention and interrogation are abolished.” Furthermore, the
Government‟s response neglected to indicate whether an investigation has been conducted
into the allegation that Mr. Singh was in fact held in solitary confinement from 1991 until
2003. Based on the information received, the Special Rapporteur determines that Mr.
Singh‟s rights under the UN Convention against Torture have been violated, and calls on
the Government to set aside any criminal conviction based on evidence obtained under
coercion and ensure that Mr. Singh obtains redress, including fair and adequate
compensation, and as full rehabilitation as possible.
(b) JUA 24/03/2011 Case No. PAK 2/2011 State reply: 28/03/2011 Allegations of increased
and continued killings in Balochistan.
124. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Pakistan for its reply, dated 28
March 2011, to this communication in reference to the alleged extrajudicial executions and
torture in Balochistan. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the Special Rapporteur
determines that the rights of at least 56 persons killed in Balochistan since July 2010 have
been violated under the UN Convention against Torture. The Special Rapporteur calls on
the Government to undertake a prompt, impartial and effective investigation of the torture
and extrajudicial killing of these individuals, leading to prosecution and punishment of the
perpetrators, and to provide full redress to all victims and family members, including
measures of non-repetition. The killings in Balochistan were the subject of two earlier
communications (A/HRC/17/28/Add.1, pages 316 and 320).
(c) JUA 05/05/2011 Case No. PAK 3/2011 State reply: None to date Possible enforced
disappearances.
125. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of Pakistan has not responded
to this communication, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate issued by the Human
Rights Council. The communication referred, inter alia, to the alleged enforced
disappearance of Mr. Riaz Kakepoto, Mr. Shah Nawaz Bhutto, Mr. Ali Nawab Mehar, and
Mr. Jam Bhutto, whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown. The Special Rapporteur
draws the Government's attention to paragraph 8(b) of Human Rights Council Resolution
16/23 of 12 April 2011, which reminds States that “[...] detention in secret places can
facilitate the perpetration of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment and can in itself constitute a form of such treatment, and urges all States to
respect the safeguards concerning the liberty, security and the dignity of the person and to
ensure that secret places of detention and interrogation are abolished.” In the absence of
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