Pakistan’s Army Said to Be Linked to Many Killings

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

MINGORA, Pakistan — Two months after the Pakistani Army wrested control of the Swat Valley from Taliban militants, a new campaign of fear has taken hold, with scores, perhaps hundreds, of bodies dumped on the streets in what human rights advocates and local residents say is the work of the military.

In some cases, people may simply have been seeking revenge against the ruthless Taliban, in a society that tends to accept tit-for-tat reprisals, local politicians said.

But the scale of the retaliation, the similarities in the way that many of the victims have been tortured and the systematic nature of the deaths and disappearances in areas that the military firmly controls have led local residents, human rights workers and some Pakistani officials to conclude that the military has had a role in the campaign.

The Pakistani Army, which is supported by the United States and in the absence of effective political leadership is running much of Swat with an iron hand, has strenuously denied any involvement in the killings. The army has acknowledged that bodies have turned up, but its spokesmen assert that the killings are the result of civilians settling scores.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/world/asia/15swat.html?hp

[BolivarianHero]

1. The Pakistani army is among the world's most cruel and barbaric...

Anyone who is aware of the atrocities committed by Zia-ul-Haq's American-backed regime and during the war that led to the independence of Bangladesh can attest to that; it ranks up there with Suharto's Indonesia and the worst the Latin American right has to offer.

[aquart]

2. And you expect this to change when? How?

International relations is not for the weak of stomach.

[cosmicone]

3. Balkanize Pakistan -- that is how!

A bunch of small countries with small militaries would not pose he kind of threat Pakistan poses.