Washington: Rampant Human Rights violations took place in Pakistan in 2002, chiefly against women and minority groups, and there were many cases of police brutality, the US State Department has said.

It also slammed the Pakistan government for "occasionally" denying Visas to journalists who were from India or of Indian descent.

In its annual report for 2002 released on March 31, the Department said significant numbers of women in Pakistan were subjected to violence, rape and other forms of abuse by spouses and others.

It said members of religious minorities were subject to violence and harassment and police at times refused to prevent such actions or to charge those who committed them.

Even non-Muslims were subject to blasphemy Laws and the number of cases filed under these Laws during the year continued to be significant. When blasphemy and other religious cases were brought to court, extremists often packed the courtroom and made public threats about the consequences of an acquittal, the report said.

Sectarian violence between members of different religious groups continued to be a serious problem, it said, adding Christians, Ahmadis and other religious minorities often were the targets of such violence.

Police failed in some instances to protect members of religious minorities, particularly Christians and Ahmedis, from attacks, it added.

PTI