In the wake of criticism on Pakistan’s human rights abuses by key US Congressmen, Pakistan’s military Friday ordered an investigation into a video, widely available in the internet, showing Pakistani soldiers summarily executing blindfolded men in civilan dress, Washington Post reported. A similar, but more horrendous, video showing Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers extra-judicially executing blindfolded men, stripped naked with hands tied back was shown by British Channel-4 news in August 25th and declared authentic after a UN investigation, but no attempts have yet been made by Colombo to investigate the crime to identify the perpetrators.
In an order released Friday, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani appointed a two-star general to determine the identity of the uniformed personnel and "the veracity of the video footage," and he pledged to take the "strictest possible disciplinary action" if warranted, Washington Post reported quoting Pakistani officials.
Responding similar to what Sri Lanka did when the SLA video emerged in the internet, Pakistan initially denounced the video as a fake, suggesting that it was manufactured to "malign" the military.
But Obama administration and U.S. military officials, under pressure from Congress to address Pakistani military abuses, have urged action, Washington Post said.
Pentagon and State Department officials briefed House and Senate staffers on the Pakistan human rights issue Thursday on Capitol Hill. U.S. law prohibits assistance to any foreign military units shown to have committed rights abuses unless the government involved takes action against the guilty, according to the Washington Post report.
Allegations of extrajudicial killings and illegal imprisonment by Pakistan’s military have surfaced repeatedly since last year.
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