Pakistan's army accused of extra-judicial killings
(April 5, 2010) The Pakistani army is facing fresh accusations of carrying out extra-judicial
killings and torture, claims which could threaten U.S. funding for any units singled
out for abuse. New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had briefed U.S. State Department
and congressional officials about mounting evidence of more than 200 summary executions
in Swat Valley in the past eight months of suspected Taliban sympathizers. Pakistan's
army denied the group's accusations of abuse in Swat, home to about 1.3 million people
and the site of a much-lauded military operation last year to take back the former
Taliban stronghold. Pakistani Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told Reuters
in Islamabad that Swat was open to journalists and to investigative reporting, and
that no reports of abuse have appeared in Pakistani newspapers. The Lahore-based Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan provided a list of 249 suspected extra-judicial killings
from July 30, 2009, to March 22, 2010, saying most of the bodies were found in Swat.
It said independent journalists and locals widely believed security forces were behind
them. Officials in Washington said they were taking the accusations of abuse seriously.
The Obama administration has raised the matter with Islamabad, officials said.