Information on the criminal justice system, including the structure of the criminal courts, access to legal counsel, the availability of trial by jury, the right to appeal, pretrial detention, conditions and procedures for those accused of political dissent, and on whether there is bias or corruption in the criminal justice system [PAK20175.E]

For information on the above-mentioned subject, please refer to the April 1994 DIRB report entitled Pakistan: Country Review, pages 27 to 29 and page 32, and the February 1993 Question and Answer Series paper entitled Pakistan: The Pakistan People's Party, pages 5 to 6, both of which are available at Regional Documentation Centres. In addition, please consult the attached excerpts from Country Reports 1994 and the 1992 Asia Watch publication entitled Double Jeopardy: Police Abuse of Women in Pakistan.

For information on due process and pretrial detention, conditions and procedures for those accused of political dissent, please refer to the attached Amnesty International documents and to the AI January 1995 report entitled Pakistan: The Pattern Persists: Torture, Death in Custody, Extrajudicial Executions and "Disappearances" under the PPP Government, which is available at Regional Documentation Centres.

For further information on this subject, please refer to the attached documents.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Attachments


Amnesty International. 1994. Amnesty International Report 1994. New York: Amnesty International USA, pp. 231-234.

_____. September 1993. Pakistan: Open Letter to the Political Parties. (AI Index: ASA 33/04/93). London: Amnesty International.

_____. November 1991. Pakistan: Special Courts for Speedy Trial. (AI Index: ASA 33/23/91). London: Amnesty International.

Asia Watch. 1992. Double Jeopardy: Police Abuse of Women in Pakistan. New York: Human Rights Watch, pp. 98-113.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. 1995. United States Department of State. Washington, DC. (electronic version received from Resource Info Center, INS, US).

United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Resource Information Center. November 1993. Pakistan. (PR/PK/94.001). Washington, DC: INS Resource Information Center.

Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (LCHR). 1994. Critique Review of the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1993. New York: LCHR, pp. 258-265.

Office of Asylum Affairs (OAA), Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. December 1994. Pakistan: Profile of Asylum Claims and Country Conditions. Washington, DC: United States Department of State.