Waqas Abid, Pakistani JusticeMaker fellow 2010, has been hard at work organising advisement of rights campaigns throughout Kasur, a district in the Punjab province. His work, focusing on spreading knowledge of legal right amongst bonded labourers, has taken him to 18 villages where he hosted awareness seminars for 683 individuals.

Pakistan’s domestic laws state that police are prohibited from engaging in torture. However sources claim that it is still widespread, with only 2% of cases reported due to intimidation. Citizens to whom Waqas has been spreading this message, reacted with surprise when told this information. They believed that it was within the police’s authority to arrest and torture alleged criminals.

Waqas Leading a Training Seminar in Hari Har

The trainings were available for both sexes but focused on women as they usually remain out of police custody. Thus they are able to engage the services of a lawyer and reduce the likelihood of torture taking place. To facilitate this process, Waqas supplied the attendees with lists of volunteer lawyers they could contact as necessary.

Through his seminars Waqas came into contact with former inmates from various jails. They stated that prison conditions included unhygienic food, contaminated drinking water and unwarranted torture. They also claimed that richer prisoners regularly bribed prison officials in return for mobile phone privileges, good food and clean water. In the Kasur District Jail in particular, according to Waqas, many inmates are incarcerated for minor crimes such as the non-payment of fines. Some sit in pre-trial detention for years.

Waqas aims to address these problems through his advisement of rights campaigns. With a basic knowledge of the law, locals will be better positioned to demand their rights. This will reduce incidents of torture and hopefully relieve some pressure on the prison system for it to function more efficiently.