PAKISTANI SECURITY FORCES ACCUSED OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN MALAKAND DIVISION

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISLAMABAD 002074





E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2034

TAGS: PHUM, PTER, MOPS, PGOV, PK

SUBJECT: PAKISTANI SECURITY FORCES ACCUSED OF HUMAN RIGHTS

ABUSES IN MALAKAND DIVISION



REF: PESHAWAR 161



Classified By: Anne W. Patterson, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).



1. (C) Summary: In an August 12 report, the Human Rights

Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) alleged that security forces

have engaged in public, extra-judicial killings of Taliban in

Malakand Division. The report -- based largely on

self-identified eye-witness accounts without corroborating

physical evidence -- also references three alleged mass

graves in the division containing bodies of militants. HRCP

Chair Asma Jehangir, in an August 18 meeting with Pol Couns,

alleged that this pattern of extra-judicial killings was

ongoing and expressed grave concern that militants could use

these incidents to turn public opinion against

counter-insurgency operations. The Pakistan military has

vigorously denied the allegations in the HRCP report but has

privately acknowledged its hesitation about handing over

militants to the court system for fear of possible release by

judges. The NWFP government, while denying the allegations

of security force involvement, has promised to launch an

inquiry into the extra-judicial killings in Malakand

Division. The Mission continues to encourage provincial,

federal and military officials to pursue transparent

investigations into these allegations and, as appropriate,

prosecutions of those involved and encourages senior U.S.

military officials to do the same with their Pakistani

counterparts. End Summary.



2. (C) On August 12, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

(HRCP) issued a report ) available sporadically on the HRCP

website - on alleged abuses by Pakistani security forces in

Malakand Division. The report, which was based on interviews

with residents of Malakand Division and a brief fact-finding

trip to Swat, alleged on-going public extra-judicial killings

of Taliban and Taliban sympathizers. The report includes a

handful of what it characterizes as illustrative

extra-judicial killings based largely on reports provided by

self-identified eye-witnesses. The report also refers to

three mass graves in Malakand Division ) again based on

evidence provided by division residents. The report claims

that these mass graves contained the bodies of militants but

does not directly attribute responsibility for their deaths.

An earlier version of the HRCP report provided to Consulate

Peshawar focuses almost exclusively on abuses perpetrated by

the militants, suggesting a change in focus during the course

of preparation of the report.



3. (C) In an August 18 meeting with Pol Couns, HRCP Chair

Asma Jehangir elaborated on the claims found in the HRCP

report. Jehangir asserted that HRCP had made a conscious

decision to omit many of the more inflammatory incidents from

the report so as to avoid arming the militants' propaganda

machine. Jehangir claimed that HRCP offices continued to

receive almost daily reports from Malakand residents alleging

public extra-judicial killings of suspected Taliban and

Taliban sympathizers by security forces. She also noted that

there were consistent reports of security forces urging

communities to take revenge on Taliban and Taliban

sympathizers. Jehangir also shared that video footage

existed of security forces pushing captured Taliban out of

Pakistan government helicopters ) footage that she believed

may also be in the possession of Taliban militants.

Jehangir asserted that HRCP would have tried to downplay the

abuse allegations if security forces had used the "usual

tactic" of deaths of militants in staged encounters ) so as

to avoid undermining public support -- but that the reports

that she was receiving of public executions were too severe

to ignore. Jehangir, who has numerous friends in the

international human rights community, noted that this report

was likely to reach international activists "soon."



4. (C) Jehangir shared that HRCP believed that three mass

graves existed in Malakand. She claimed HRCP officials had

seen one of the gravesites that contained bodies they

believed to be Taliban, which had been beheaded. Jehangir's

personal opinion based on her understanding of interviews

with locals was that the grave contained the victims of

extra-judicial killings by security forces. However,

Jehangir admitted that HRCP had no way to verify this

assumption and that there were contradictory accounts that

the graves could contain either Taliban killed in fighting

with security forces or Taliban killed in in-fighting among

various groups. Jehangir expressed grave concern that if

the military did not conduct a credible investigation into

the allegations of abuses, the Taliban could exploit them to

turn public opinion against the military.



5. (C) Swat native and HRCP member Sher Mohammad Khan, who

had taken part in the HRCP fact-finding mission, agreed with

Jehangir's assessment that the individual accounts of

extra-judicial killings appeared to be true. However, he

noted that the delegation had seen no physical evidence to

support the claims. He shared that two of the alleged mass

graves were located in areas where operations were still

ongoing. The third he placed in or near the Mingora suburb

village of Kaokarai, a militant center that was destroyed in

an airstrike at the outset of the Swat campaign in May. Sher

Mohammad believed that the grave contained militants killed

in the strike and buried as their comrades fled. Sher

Mohammad noted that the appearance of bodies of known

militants had been reported in the region since early July,

but there was no physical evidence to prove that such

killings were linked to security forces ) only the accounts

of self-identified eye-witnesses. Consulate Peshawar

contacts' opinions differ as to whether these killings were

carried out by security forces or by the public bent on

revenge.



6. (C) The Pakistan military, through its Inter-Services

Public Relations wing (ISPR),vigorously refuted the HRCP's

allegations, terming them &not based on facts8 and ruling

out the possibility of an investigation. Contacts in

security forces are feeling defensive about the HRCP

allegations. They believe they have worked hard to prevent

extensive civilian casualties in Malakand and are winning

public confidence through tough anti-militant policies.

Contacts worry that when detainees are turned over to the

courts, they will be set free to terrorize the population

again. Eleventh Corps Commander Lt General Masood on August

20 noted to PO Peshawar that he had seen a TV JOURNALIST

calling for scrutiny of the interrogation methods used on

captured TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar. He added, in an

indignant tone, that militants detained after the Lal Masjid

incident in September 2007 had been released by the Chief

Justice in October 2007 and were now attacking the military

again; some had been picked up in Swat. This led Masood to

indicate he preferred dealing with militants in combat rather

than as detainees. Frontier Corps Deputy Inspector General

Zeb reported to visiting MG Cleveland and incoming PO that

the jails held about 4,000 detainees; he, too, expressed

concern about what would happen when they were turned over to

the courts. Both MG Cleveland and PO pressed Masood and Zeb

to do everything possible to prevent any extra-judicial

killings by security forces or civilians.



7. (C) While it maintains that Swat's mass graves are the

work of militants and denies any knowledge of extrajudicial

killings by its personnel, the civil administration in the

NWFP appears to have taken on board the growing press

attention to the issue and the potential negative effects on

the government's reputation and ability to work with

international partners. NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider

Hoti, NWFP ANP leader Afrasiab Khattak, and Police

Inspector-General Malik Naveed separately told PO that an

August 24 meeting of the top civil and military leadership of

NWFP had acknowledged that the revenge killings in Swat

needed to end and decided that all cases of extrajudicial

killing in Swat will be registered and investigations into

the deaths opened by the police. It was unclear whether this

decision would also mandate a role in the investigation for

outside parties. Naveed added that an intensive publicity

campaign would be undertaken warning Swat residents of the

penalties for revenge killings.



8. (C) Comment: The HRCP report does not provide sufficient

physical evidence to draw solid conclusions about

responsibility for extra-judicial killings in the Malakand

Division. However, the repeated narratives of security force

involvement in the killings that have been provided to HRCP

suggest the strong possibility of the involvement of some

elements in this practice. In addition, the Mission assesses

that revenge killings of Taliban and Taliban sympathizers by

the families of their victims are likely ongoing in Malakand

Division and will require swift attention from the civilian

government. The Mission is concerned at the possibility that

the Taliban or other militant elements will use stories or

video evidence of security force abuses to undermine

Pakistani public support for ongoing operations against

terrorist/extremist elements. Mission elements continue to

engage with federal, provincial, and military counterparts to

investigate and prosecute transparently any reported

incidents in order to undercut their potential propaganda

value to militants. The Mission believes that similar

engagement with the Pakistan military from senior U.S.

military officials would be helpful. End Comment.





PATTERSON