Pakistan has witnessed a severe deterioration in the rule of law while neighbouring India failed to protect marginalized castes and religious minorities, Human Rights Watch said in an annual report.
Since General Pervez Musharraf seized office five years ago, Pakistan's military has "acted with increasing impunity to enforce its writ over the state and to protect its grip on Pakistan's economic resources, especially land," the report said on Thursday.
Other pressing human rights concerns in Pakistan highlighted by the New York-based watchdog were a rise in sectarian violence, mistreatment of women and religious minorities, and arbitrary detention of political opponents.
Islamabad was also accused of harassing and intimidating the media and showing lack of due process in the conduct of its so-called "war on terror" in collaboration with the United States.
"Musharraf, in fact, got a free check from the world because of his role in the fight against terrorism," said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. "But there has been a severe deterioration in the rule of law."
The report said sectarian violence increased significantly in Pakistan in 2004, with most of the victims from the minority Shia Muslim sect.
Human Rights Watch accused Pakistan of detaining suspects held for alleged terrorism without charge and subjecting them to trials without proper judicial process.
"The US has notably failed to press for human rights-related legal reform in the country, in exchange for Pakistan's support in the US-led "war on terror," it said.
Musharraf has excused Pakistan's failure to uphold human rights by citing domestic political pressure from hard-line religious and militant groups.
Human Rights Watch gave a mixed review of the rights situation in India.
It praised the new coalition government for repealing the "oft-abused" Prevention of Terrorism Act and conducting a re-evaluation of educational policies that fostered communitarian resentments.
But it also ticked off the Congress party-led government, which replaced the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, for allegedly using other legislation to shield security forces from accountability.
The rights group said the Indian military, paramilitary, and police forces had engaged in serious human rights abuses not just in conflict-zones such as Kashmir (news - web sites), but also when dealing with criminal suspects and detainees.
The group also blamed the Indian government for its "systematic failure" to protect the rights of marginalized castes and religious minorities.
Human Rights Watch also highlighted the AIDS problem in India and the society's discrimination against victims.
People with AIDS are denied employment and access to education and healthcare. Those at high risk face police harassment and other state-sponsored abuse that undermines prevention and care services for them, the group said.
In Nepal, it said a brutal eight-year civil war between Maoist rebels and government forces had a devastating impact on the desperately poor rural population. Human Rights watch documented widespread abuses by both sides in 2004.
In Sri Lanka, it said the most pressing rights issue continued to derive from the countrys two-decades-old civil war.
It accused the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of stepping up forcible recruitment of children despite agreeing to an action plan in 2003 to release children from its forces back into the community as well as into transit centers.
"While the LTTE has released over one thousand children since agreeing to the action plan, forcible recruitment of children has intensified and new recruits outnumber those released," it said.