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HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

Group Assignment

Submitted By:
Usama Akram Qazi
(F2020117111)

Obaid Ur Rehman
(F2020117039)

Abdul Rehman
(F2020117100)

Section:
(H)

Submitted To:
Maam Bakhtawar Manzoor
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Human Rights Violations in Pakistan

Extra Judicial Killings

Introduction:
An Extra judicial Killing or extra judicial murder is the execution of a person by the law
enforcement agencies without the permission by any judicial body or without any judicial or
legal proceeding. Extrajudicial killings are mostly carried out by governmental agencies or
departments such as police or military forces as an "Extra-legal" exercise of their approved
authority. The targets of these murders are mainly major political people, religious and social
figures, trade union leaders, and occasionally even the general public also facing extra judicial
killing.
Background:
Extrajudicial killings by police and other law enforcement agencies are common in Pakistan.
After gaining independence, Pakistan adopted a more than 80-year-old police system from
British India, one that was created only to keep check on the people of the colonial subcontinent  
It was not established to ensure the fair and just enforcement of the laws. Our police department's
basic problem is that it still works like colonial police rather than police for a free democratic
democracy.

Extra judicial Killings in Pakistan:

The extra judicial killing is a harsh form of human rights violations that often denying justice.
Now it’s become a part of our system in Pakistan. Police and other law enforcement agencies
also evolve in extra judicial killing. According to the Dawn news Hundreds of people die each
year at the hands of law enforcement officers under pressure to crack down on kidnapping,
murder and gang crime in a city routinely ranked among the most dangerous in the world.
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Police are one among the most widely feared, complained against and least trusted government
institutions in Pakistan due to lack of clear system of accountability. it's plagued by corruption on
its highest levels. quite often, the police at district level is in check of powerful politicians,
wealthy landowners and other influential members of society. In Pakistan, per year , there are
numerous cases reported against extra judicial killings, torture to captives for forceful
confessions and harassment of people who file cases against them, by police.

According to the Human Rights Watch reports published in 2016, police in Pakistan "illegally"
execute numerous individuals each year in "false encounter killings." In Pakistan, the phrase
"Encounter" is used as a euphemism for extrajudicial murders. According to official claims,
defendants are shot because they resisted arrest or attempted to endanger the lives of police
officers or members of the general public, whereas in reality, they are murdered in police custody
in circumstances such as false encounters, even when no one's life is in danger. "In the vast
majority of these situations, no police officer was hurt or killed, raising issues about whether
there was an armed exchange in which there was an imminent threat to the lives of police or
others,"

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, over 2,000 persons were murdered in
armed encounters with police in 2015 alone, with the majority of them occurred in the province
of Punjab. The Human Rights Watch fears that, most of the ‘encounter killings’ were faked and
these encounters did not occur in situations when lives were endangered.

Domestic and International laws

Effects and causes of extra judicial killing in Pakistan

Causes:
The adherent of due process criticized extra judicial killing for social, legal, and moral reasons.
In simple words it is a murder. The police officers are supposed to arrest these criminals but
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some of them support extra judicial killing.Supporters of staged encounters sustain that
exceptional times warrant exceptional measures. They give us examples of the security system in
the country and how the terrorist and criminals involved in ton of killings bailed for the lack of
evidence. They further argue that a person named Lashkar-i-Jhangvi’s Malik Ishaq remained in
prison for 12 years and a person names Asif Chotoo for seven, but they were bailed out in court,
and it was made public that they were involved in killings of tons of people. Most of the times
there is lack of witness and the often-lacking willing witnesses of such crimes and working under
such poor investigation skills and the support is limited too so the investigators capacity for
successful prosecution of criminals remains limited. Another thing that complicates the
prosecution of these criminals is the distinction inside the criminal justice system (CJS) where its
different crucial parts such as police, prosecutors, lawyers, and judges are struggling to have a
functional relationship. So, who is to blame for this problem? Without a doubt police are the
public face of this problem, but police alone cannot be blamed for this whole extra judicial
killing problem. All the relevant administrations and the legal authorities need to show their
obligation to resolving the issue. Many of the legal authorities are to be blamed too because they
are backing those criminals. A professional relationship between police and prosecutors, and a
leading role for the judiciary would essentially assist reduce the use of utilization and violent
tactics by police to control crime.
Effects:
The effect of extra judicial killing is quite negative the people will not believe in the justice
system of Pakistan if we talk about present many people does not trust the justice system of
Pakistan and the police officers because of the staged encounters the police argue that all these
problems are worsened by politician or the senior police officials to achieve results. Police in
Pakistan murder tons of people each year in fake encounters and in these cases no police officer
in injured or killed and they claim that the suspect was shot because of resistance this is clearly
not justified and it will put fear in the heart of citizens and ultimately the situation will get worse.
The right of life is the most basic and important of human rights if it is taken away from the extra
judicial killing then obviously the effects are irreversible. It will not only affect the people of the
country but the whole country itself who would believe in the justice system the police and the
political entities and the international value of the country will hit the rock bottom.
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Case Laws
Sarfarz Shah Case:
In the case of extra-judicial killing of 25 year old Sarfaraz Shah on June 8, 2011, Sarfraz Shah
was shot dead in broad daylight in a public park in Karachi by a squad of Rangers men for
allegedly robbing people at gunpoint. According to eyewitnesses and cell phone footage taken on
the incident, Sarfraz Shah was unarmed and shot at point blank range by security officers
present. Sarfraz was begging for his life on the video, but he was shot and then allowed to bleed
to death, his pleadings falling on deaf ears. Neither the security guards nor anybody else on the
site attempted to save his life. At the end of the two-month-long trial, ATC-I judge Bashir Ahmed
Khoso found accused Shahid Zafar, of the Pakistan Rangers' Abdullah Shah Ghazi unit, guilty of
causing fatal harm to dead Sarfraz Shah and condemned him to death. Zafar, and others, has also
been sentenced to pay Rs200,000 in compensation to Shah's legal heirs.

Suggestions:

In our society,where the large gap between the powerful and weak People are scared to make a
complaint against the police because of a lack of evidence or because they are unable to sustain
evidences/witnesses against the police. And if someone tries to  file a complaint against the
police, he or she will spend their entire lives hearing the processes with no positive outcome in
our justice system, where the chances are already set against the weak. Also, we do not identify
extrajudicial killing as a crime as strongly as we should. To solve these issues, here are some
suggestions that may help in turning things around:

1) There is a need to change attitude of police. Under the British rule, the sub-contient
police department was not considered a public service department, and it was there to
keep people in check, as it still is in our nation. We must teach our police officers that
they are public servants. They have no legal power to take anyone's life. The state
entrusts them with the custody of suspects, and they are not to harass or force them into
confessing by using force.
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2) There is also  need to promote awareness and give them confidence to speak out against i
njustice, especially when it is committed by police and other law enforcement agencies.

3) It is also necessary to safeguard the police department against the influence of politicians,
wealthy landlords, and public figures.

4) Delayed justice is actually injustice. We need to change and introduce reforms in our
legal system so that it can function independently of any powerful individual.

5) Discipline or prosecute top officials who knew or should have known about torture and
murders and failed to prevent and punish them.
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