E/CN.4/1997/7/Add.2 page 4 detention and the problems in this area observed by the Special Rapporteur during the course of his mission. Section III addresses the allegations of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including corporal punishment and the use of bar fetters by the police and prison officials. Section IV focuses specifically on the situation in Karachi, where it is estimated that over 1,800 people were killed in 1995. Section V discusses the question of impunity. Section VI contains the Special Rapporteur’s conclusions and recommendations. I. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 9. Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy, in the sense that the composition of the legislature is determined on the basis of competitive elections, the executive being formed by the party or coalition of parties capable of commanding a vote of confidence in the legislature. It is a federal State, whose provincial governments are elected in broadly the same way as the national Government. It is also an Islamic republic whose laws are expected to be or to be brought "in conformity with the Injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah". For most of the period since independence in 1947 Pakistan has been ruled by military regimes, the last of which ended only in 1986. The present national Government, formed by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), has been in power only since 1993. It does not control an absolute majority in Parliament. The press is generally acknowledged to be free and vigorous. 10. Responsibility for internal security rests primarily with the Ministry of the Interior, which exercises overall responsibility for most of the various police and intelligence forces. However, paramilitary forces, such as the Rangers acting in support of the civil forces in Karachi, are the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence, as are certain intelligence bodies, in particular, Military Intelligence. Direct responsibility for the police and some investigative bodies, as well as paramilitary forces acting in support of the civil power, is vested in the provincial governments. 11. Early in the life of her Government, the present Prime Minister, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, established a "human rights cell" headed by Mr. Kamran Rizvi, a former political prisoner during the martial law regime. The cell took up numerous cases of law enforcement arbitrariness. In 1995 the cell was promoted to a Ministry of Human Rights. The Ministry has various investigatory functions, but no apparent authority to compel redress of abuses. The Ministry having been established only in October 1995, it is too early to assess its effectiveness, actual or potential. At the time of the Special Rapporteur’s visit, it did not have the authority to secure the Special Rapporteur’s access to an unofficial place of detention (see below, para. 23). In early August 1996, the Senator-in-charge of Human Rights Affairs, Mr. Iqbal Haider, was appointed Minister for Human Rights. 12. Pakistan has signed and ratified the following international human rights instruments: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid; Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; Convention on the Rights of the Child;