Kathmandu, Dec. 10 -- South Asian states continue to use torture to control and punish dissent, fail to pass laws to criminalise the practice and where laws exist, do not use them in good faith, concluded a recent regional meeting in Kathmandu.
Organised by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the meeting last week brought together lawyers, human rights experts and activists from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, ahead of global Human Rights Day (10 December).
'Torture and other ill treatment are prevalent in South Asia, and in some countries widespread and systematic, with perpetrators enjoying impunity for the crime,' said ICJ in a press release.
The trend is supported by 'a mistrust of the justice system', a...