This is why the NCHR, earlier this month, initiated a formal inquiry into nearly 1,500 cases of torture uncovered in just one Punjab district, Faisalabad. NCHR commissioners travelled there to hear the testimonies of torture victims in person.

We heard their pain, we heard their stories of being humiliated and ostracised by their communities. And we are now obliged to take action against police officials who engage in such practices, no matter what their rank. This abhorrent use of torture as an interrogation method must be eliminated but it cannot be done unless we stop making it consequence-free.