Amnesty slams Pakistan Human Rights record

New Delhi, May 27 (UNI) Unlawful killings in Pakistan are being carried out with impunity and scores of people, including journalists, have suffered arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances, said the latest report of Amnesty International.

Victims include terror suspects, Baloch and Sindhi nationalists and journalists and blasphemy laws were used to persecute members of religious minorities, according to a survey carried out for 2006.

The report, with the theme--Politics of Fear creating a dangerously divided world-- said, ''Honour'' killings continued to be reported and tribal and religious councils unlawfully exercised judicial functions and enforced cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments.

At least, 446 people were sentenced to death while a number of executions reported, 82, including one juvenile, was a steep increase from the previous year.

The report said the Government had failed to protect the minorities with at least 44 registered cases of blasphemy being reported during 2006.

''Such cases took years to conclude and the accused were rarely released on bail and were often ill-treated in detention,'' according to 340-page report released worldwide on Wednesday.

It cited the case of Ranjha Masih who was acquitted of blasphemy in November by the Lahore High Court for lack of evidence.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2003 after being arrested during the funeral in 1998 of a Catholic bishop who committed suicide to protest at targeting Christians.

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