Pakistani army’s human rights record remains matter of grave concern for rights groups: Report

A report by the Pakistan-based rights organisation, Defence of Human Rights has said that the Pak Army’s human rights record remains a matter of grave concern for international bodies and rights groups.
 
The force are being accused of carrying out arbitrary and unlawful killings, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and widespread torture in all provinces.
 
The rights group has tracked 2,332 cases of enforced disappearances in 2024, demonstrating a troubling persistence and escalation of abductions linked to state actors.
 
The United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances’ 2024 report has also stated that the number of such cases rose by 27 per cent over the preceding period, with 934 outstanding cases as of May 2024 waiting for resolution.
 
The report said that the human rights record of the Pakistan Army remains a matter of grave concern for international bodies and rights organisations today.
 
It further said that arbitrary and unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, and widespread torture are among the alleged abuses routinely ascribed to the military in multiple provinces, especially Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
 
Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s human rights wing, documented 28 torture victims, five extrajudicial killings, and 33 enforced disappearances in February 2024.