Reuters: Jurists call for probe of Pakistani disappearances

[Eugene]

Jurists call for probe of Pakistani disappearances
07 Mar 2007 14:41:53 GMT
Source: Reuters

ISLAMABAD, March 7 (Reuters) - A team of international jurists called on
Wednesday for Pakistan to investigate allegations that many people have
disappeared after being taken into custody because of suspected links to
terrorism.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in its annual
report last month "enforced disappearances" were its biggest concern,
with at least 400 cases since 2001.

A team appointed by the Geneva-based International Commission of
Jurists is visiting Pakistan, meeting human rights activists and government
officials, as part of a global inquiry into the impact of terrorism and
counter-terrorism measures on rights.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL290725.htm

[struggle4progress]

1. US turns blind eye to Pak's rights record

7 Mar, 2007 1058hrs ISTIANS
US turns blind eye to Pak's rights record

WASHINGTON: ... Pakistan's "poor" record included restrictions on citizens' right to change their government, extra-judicial killings, torture, rape and an increase in disappearances of activists and political opponents.

... Amnesty International accused the Bush administration of continuing to turn a blind eye to many instances of abuse by countries cited by the State Department for appalling human rights records in the name of national security.

Its own analysis reveals that US, in the context of the war on terror, has been silent on human rights abuses committed by many of its new-found friends, said Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA executive director.

In the Balochistan province of Pakistan, for example, Amnesty International has documented torture, possible extra-judicial executions and other unlawful killings and disappearances. In January, Amnesty International issued an urgent action on behalf of Baloch political leader Akhtar Mengal, currently being held incommunicado in solitary confinement in Karachi without access to needed medical care ...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/The_United_States/US_turns_blind_eye_to_Paks_rights_record/articleshow/1729467.cms

US complicit might be more accurate than US silent:

Pakistan: U.S. Citizens Tortured, Held Illegally
FBI Participated in Interrogations Despite Apparent Knowledge of Torture, Abduction

(New York, May 24, 2005) -- U.S. FBI agents operating in Pakistan repeatedly interrogated and threatened two U.S. citizens of Pakistani origin who were unlawfully detained and subjected to torture by the Pakistani security services, Human Rights Watch said today.

The brothers Zain Afzal and Kashan Afzal were abducted from their home in Karachi at about 2 a.m. on August 13, 2004. They were released on April 22, 2005 without having been charged.

During eight months of illegal detention, Zain Afzal and Kashan Afzal were routinely tortured by Pakistani authorities to extract confessions of involvement in terrorist activities. During this period, FBI agents questioned the brothers on at least six occasions. The FBI agents did not intervene to end the torture, insist that the Pakistani government comply with a court order to produce the men in court, or provide consular facilities normally offered to detained U.S. citizens. Instead, they threatened the men with being sent to the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay if they did not confess to involvement in terrorism ...

“It is outrageous that Pakistan abducts people from their homes in the middle of the night and tortures them in secret prisons to extract confessions, all the while ignoring court orders to produce their victims in court,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “The United States should be condemning this, but instead it either directed this activity or turned a blind eye in the hopes of gaining information in the war on terror.” ...

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/24/pakist11005.htm