Tuesday, March 1 2005 10:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The human rights record of Asian countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and China remained poor last year with widespread violence against minorities, police inaction, abuse of power and suppression of democracy prevalent in all the countries, the US said in a report.

In its annual Human Rights Report, the State Department said human and political rights in Pakistan were poor, press freedom was curbed and there was severe discrimination against religious minorities.

Though some improvements were made, "serious problems remained" as the police, which at times failed to protect members of religious minorities from societal attacks, was ineffective, brutal and corrupt, it said.

The judiciary "remained subject to executive branch influence at all levels and Ahmadi, Christian, Hindu and Shias have reported significant discrimination in employment and access to education, including at Government institutions," the report released yesterday (Feb 28, 2005) charged.

It notes that President Pervez Musharraf, whose Presidency was affirmed through a "controversial national referendum", continued as Chief of the Army Staff despite his promise to step down at the end of the year.

Terming China's commitment on human rights issues "disappointing," the report charged Beijing with using the war on terror "as a pretext for cracking down harshly on suspected Uighur separatists expressing peaceful political dissent and on independent Muslim religious leaders."

The human-rights situation in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and in some Tibetan regions outside the TAR also remained poor during the year under review, it said.

Although the Chinese constitution was amended in 2004 to mention human rights for the first time, the report said, the Chinese Government's human rights record "remained poor" and the Government continued to commit "numerous and serious human rights abuses."

Chinese citizens "do not have the right to change their Government, and many who openly expressed dissenting political views were harassed, detained or imprisoned, particularly in a campaign late in the year against writers, religious activists, dissidents, and petitioners to the Central Government," it said.

The report said Chinese authorities "were quick to suppress religious, political, and social groups that they perceived as threatening to Government authority or national stability."

Extra judicial killings, torture and mistreatment of prisoners leading to numerous deaths in custody, coerced confessions, arbitrary arrest and detention, and incommunicado detention were committed by the Government, it charged.

In Nepal, where King Gyanendra sacked the Sher Bahadur Deuba Government and seized power last month, security forces "used arbitrary and unlawful lethal force and continued to abuse detainees, sometimes using torture as punishment or to extract confessions."

The Maoists also came under attack with the report saying, the rebels "have not credibly investigated any human rights abuses committed by their forces, despite their claims to respect and uphold international conventions on human rights."