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| India-Pakistan |
| 4m Pakistanis live under Taliban rule: AI |
| 2010-06-11 |
| Nearly four million people are living under Taliban rule in Pakistan's northwest, suffering human rights abuses from the extremists as well as the military, Amnesty International (AI) said on Thursday. According to the report "As If Hell Fell on Me", more than 1,300 civilians were killed in fighting between the Pakistani troops and the Taliban in 2009 while more than one million internally displaced persons (IDPs) are still in various towns. "Over the last few years, Taliban have been able to assert their rule, their ideology through combination of violence and fear," Saman Zia Zarifi, the director of Amnesty Asia-Pacific said. "They have killed anybody who can challenge them. They have killed hundreds of maliks (tribal elders), religious leaders, civil society workers, teachers," he said. He said militants also used the civilian population as human shields against military assaults and often placed themselves in residential areas. Pakistan went on an offensive last year to crush al Qaeda-linked Pakistani militants who wanted to impose Taliban-style strict Islamic rule in their strongholds in north-western Swat and the Tribal Areas. In their violent campaign, militants killed thousands of people in the country. The military says the tribal lands have largely been cleared of militants in these operations, according to Reuters. Zarifi accused government forces of not trying to protect civilian population in the conflict-zones and using indiscriminate artillery and air power against them. "The government acted as if its role is simply to kill the enemy as if it was not there to protect the citizens of Pakistan," he said. "The Pakistani military is not designed to fight counter-insurgency. It's not designed to provide the rule of law. It's really designed to fight a mechanised war probably against India but that's not the situation in FATA and neighbouring areas," Zarifi said. Detained: The international human rights watchdog's report says some 2,500 people are said to have been detained by Pakistani authorities without framing any charges against them. It fears the figures of enforced disappearance could be much higher. The report also criticises the role of "unaccountable and untrained" tribal militia raised with the backing of authorities against Taliban militants. "In some they seem to say they target Taliban but other cases they're simply carrying old vendetta or taking advantage of the situation to settle scores," Zarifi said. "It's the opposite of enforcing the rule of the law. This is moving towards chaos," he added. Insurgents increased the likelihood of civilian casualties by dispersing themselves in communities and blocking roads to prevent villagers from escaping "heavy bombardment by government forces". But a Pakistani security official contacted by AFP challenged Amnesty to visit Swat, where commanders say a decisive battle last year returned much of the valley to relative normality. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM/NEWS KERALA > REPORT: TALIBAN IN 72% OF AFGHANISTAN + AFGHAN PRESIDENT [Karzai] DOUBTS US-NATO ABILITY TO DEFEAT TALIBAN. * NEWS KERALA > TERRORISTS [e.g. TTP], CIMINAL'S NEXUS IN PAKISTAN PUNJAB POSE A SERIOUS SECURITY THREAT. Islamist Militants colluding and actively participating in VARI UNDERWORLD CRIMINAL SCHEMES in common $$$ profit * SAME > TALIBAN TAKE AIM AT OFFICIALS, POLITICIANS [lower-level/tier] TO UNDERMINE GOVT COUNTER-INSURGENCY. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-06-11 22:51 |
| #1 taliban areas are less dependent on Kashmir based water resources, than are the Punjab and Sindhi. if ever they are empowered to contaminate same, Pakistan would crumble. the current indulgence is beyond belief. We all need to think of Pashtuns as irredeemable savages. |
| Posted by: One Eyed Thinenter6178 2010-06-11 18:39 |