State violence in Pakistan refers to the use of force and coercive measures—including extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detentions—by state agencies such as the Pakistan Army, Rangers, police, Frontier Corps, and intelligence services. Since the 1990s, these measures have been implemented in various regions, notably Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan. International organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), and UN mechanisms have repeatedly highlighted violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, lack of accountability, and continued impunity.[1][2][3][4]
State operations have achieved tactical gains—such as crime reduction in Karachi or control of insurgents in KPK and Balochistan—but at substantial cost to human rights and social trust.
- ^ Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, *State of Human Rights in Pakistan*, 2018.
- ^ Amnesty International, *Pakistan: human rights crisis in Karachi* (1996).
- ^ Human Rights Watch, *World Report 2016: Pakistan*, reporting disappearances and incommunicado detention in Karachi and KPK.
- ^ UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances, Pakistan report 2019.