*Graphic*AFP 25/10/2010 / PAKISTAN Summary: executions, torture, humiliation; several videos have recently appeared on the Internet which reveal the dark side of the Pakistani army struggle against the Taliban.
These videos were filmed during an assault launched against the Taliban in the Swat valley a little under a year ago. One of them shows the execution of a group of six young men. The prisoners, blindfolded and with bound hands, are lined up and shot by the Pakistani army. After it was proven that the images were not hoaxes, the Pakistani army eventually admitted at the end of September that the amateur footage did indeed show the Pakistani army and that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. Another video which, according to sources cited by the New York Times, was filmed last May in North Mingora, shows a tied-up prisoner being dragged across the floor and flogged by men wearing Pakistani army uniform. The prisoner is being interrogated for supposed links to the Taliban.Several similar, undated videos have appeared recently on the internet.
Following the release of these films, the US announced that it would cut economic aid to the different Pakistani military units on the basis that they have committed grave human rights abuses on a routine basis in their Swat Valley operations.
Furthermore, Human Rights Watch has submitted to the American Department of State proof of 200 extrajudicial executions of people suspected of being Taliban allies, by the Pakistani army. The Pakistani offensive against the insurrection was launched on the 26 April 2009 in three neighbouring districts controlled by the Taliban: Lower Dir, Buner and Swat. Several million people have been displaced due to these military operations. On the 30 May 2009, the army announced that they had killed 1,217 Taliban, reportedly doing so to minimise the number of civilian casualties.
These videos were filmed during an assault launched against the Taliban in the Swat valley a little under a year ago. One of them shows the execution of a group of six young men. The prisoners, blindfolded and with bound hands, are lined up and shot by the Pakistani army. After it was proven that the images were not hoaxes, the Pakistani army eventually admitted at the end of September that the amateur footage did indeed show the Pakistani army and that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. Another video which, according to sources cited by the New York Times, was filmed last May in North Mingora, shows a tied-up prisoner being dragged across the floor and flogged by men wearing Pakistani army uniform. The prisoner is being interrogated for supposed links to the Taliban.Several similar, undated videos have appeared recently on the internet.
Following the release of these films, the US announced that it would cut economic aid to the different Pakistani military units on the basis that they have committed grave human rights abuses on a routine basis in their Swat Valley operations.
Furthermore, Human Rights Watch has submitted to the American Department of State proof of 200 extrajudicial executions of people suspected of being Taliban allies, by the Pakistani army. The Pakistani offensive against the insurrection was launched on the 26 April 2009 in three neighbouring districts controlled by the Taliban: Lower Dir, Buner and Swat. Several million people have been displaced due to these military operations. On the 30 May 2009, the army announced that they had killed 1,217 Taliban, reportedly doing so to minimise the number of civilian casualties.
Here is the Video
