Asia hesitant to ease HR curb despite rapid growth

"In Asia, economic growth had not witnessed an equal amount of human rights advances," said Sam Zarifi, the New York-based group's deputy director for Asia.

The rights watchdog said that in China in 2004, government promises of legal and political reform were undermined by official corruption, media censorship and enduring restrictions on freedom of expression.

Zarifi said India, another Asian giant, was increasingly asserting economically and politically as a regional power "but the world is now waiting to see if it will also start acting like a world power in terms of respect for human rights."

The Indian security forces were accused of serious human rights abuses not just in conflict-zones such as Kashmir, but also when dealing with criminal suspects and detainees.

India's Aids problem and its discrimination against victims was highlighted in the report. The government estimates 5.1 million people are infected with HIV, the virus which causes Aids, though many experts suggest the number is much higher.

India's neighbour Pakistan saw a rise in sectarian violence, mistreatment of women and religious minorities, and arbitrary detention of political opponents last year, Human Rights Watch said.

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 also said Islamabad showed lack of due process in the conduct of its so-called "war on terror" in collaboration with the United States.

Resource-rich Southeast Asia's human rights record also took a knock in 2004 with Thailand's brutal crackdown on Muslim insurgents, the harrassment of dissidents in Vietnam, resurgence of military power in Indonesia and denial of basic freedom in Myanmar, Human Rights Watch said.

Prominent human rights concerns in Malaysia include arbitrary detention of alleged militants under the draconian Internal Security Act, restrictions on media freedom, constraints on judicial independence and abuses against refugees and migrants, Human Rights Watch said.

In Myanmar, political reform and national reconciliation remain elusive, Human Rights Watch said.

Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrest and the activities of her political party, the National League for Democracy, remain curtailed.