PAKISTAN: SUPREME COURT ORDERS ACTION AGAINST TORTURE CELLS

Islamabad, 22 June (AKI/DAWN) - Pakistan's Supreme Court has directed the police in the Sindh province to take effective action to abolish torture cells allegedly being operated by some police officials. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad directed the inspector general of Sindh police to immediately undertake a comprehensive survey of all such cells in the province.

The bench was told that some police officers, on the orders of influential feudalists, operated private cells where innocent citizens were kept in illegal confinement.

PAKISTAN: SUPREME COURT ORDERS ACTION AGAINST TORTURE CELLS

I can't decide if this is Pakistan trying to move to the "rule of law", "protection under the law" and "human rights protections" or if it is simply the state is angry at infringements on its monopoly on incarceration and torture.