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 Monday, the state 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. The 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 Ahmadis, from attacks, it added.

The report alleged police committed extrajudicial killings. Amnesty International estimated that at least 100 people died from police torture each year. The police regularly tortured and otherwise abused persons and used excessive force against demonstrators, the state department report said. They also arbitrarily arrested and detained citizens, it alleged.

It said prison conditions were extremely poor and life-threatening in Pakistan. Landlords in Sindh and political factions in Karachi operate private jails and many of these exist in tribal and feudal areas.

Following the October 1999 coup, the Pervez Musharraf government detained without warrants and without charges several dozen political figures, military officers and government administrators though most of them were later released, the report said.

The Pakistani constitution provides for an independent judiciary but in practice it remained subject to executive branch and other outside influences, it said.

Corruption and inefficiency in the country remained acute despite reforms initiated by the Musharraf government to reduce them. However, these reforms have had some effect on officials at higher levels of government. The Supreme Court demonstrated a 'limited degree of independence' though the 'overall credibility of the judiciary remained low,' the report said.