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Pakistan: Extrajudicial executions by army in Swat
The Pakistani government should immediately investigate reports of summary executions, torture, and mistreatment perpetrated during counterterrorism operations in the Swat valley, Human Rights Watch said today.
Since September 2009, when the Pakistani military re-established control over the valley, Human Rights Watch has received numerous credible reports of extrajudicial executions allegedly committed by soldiers operating in Swat or police acting at the behest of the military. Human Rights Watch has since February researched alleged human rights violations in Swat based on an initial list of 238 suspicious killings provided by local sources and the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Human Rights Watch has corroborated about 50 of these cases. In no case examined by Human Rights Watch was a killing falsely reported, suggesting that the total number of killings is as high as or greater than those reported. The information for each case includes names or numbers of victims, place names, and dates. To date, the Pakistani military has not held any of the perpetrators accountable for these killings.
"The Pakistani military has yet to understand that a bullet in the back of the head is simply not the way to win hearts and minds in Swat," said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Killing terrorism suspects and their relatives in cold blood is vicious, illegal, and constitutes an appallingly bad counterterrorism practice that just creates more enemies."
On March 28, 2010, for example, Farman Ali, a resident of Matta sub-district, surrendered to the 12th Punjab regiment of the Pakistan Army during a search operation in the Kokari Jambeel area of Swat. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that two unidentified men were also taken into custody at the same time. The bullet-riddled bodies of the two unidentified men were later produced by the military authorities as those of Taliban fighters killed in a military "encounter" with Taliban fighters. Farman Ali remained in the custody of the 12th Punjab regiment, without access to family members.