On the trail of Pakistan's 'disappeared'
Updated on 09 March 2007
Kate Clark reports on allegations that Pakistan's security forces has secretly detained hundreds of people over the war on terror.
A US military panel has today begun hearings to determine the fate of 14 inmates at Guantanamo Bay. Among them is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, arrested in Pakistan four years ago in what was thought to be a joint Pakistani-American operation.
But in Pakistan itself, there are allegations that the security force crackdown on 'terror suspects' has led to hundreds of people being secretly detained, with claims of CIA involvement in there interrogation.
'The government has been using the cover of fight against terror to decimate and suppress political opposition within the country.'
Pakistan is the frontline in the War on Terror. That's according to the Pakistan government. And as in every war, it insists, hard choices are necessary. But does confronting extremism mean Pakistan is abusing its own citizens?
A suicide bomber has attacked one of Islamabad's grandest hotels. One person's been killed and others wounded. When I arrived, the local press corps were exploding with anger - t police have baton-charged the press. They claim they were just trying to protect the site and it was an emergency. The journalists say otherwise.
But the anger isn't just about today's beating. Journalists say they're under pressure whenever they investigate war on terror stories.
They allege threats by the intelligence agencies, detentions and disappearances. Human rights groups say the issue is bigger still - hundreds of people, they allege, have been arrested and their detention officially denied.
Rahman, Director, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said:
"The government has been using the cover of fight against terror to decimate and suppress political opposition within the country."
Everyone, even terror suspects, says the Commission, must be protected by habeus corpus. It's backing a case before the Supreme Court. Relatives of the missing have travelled from across Pakistan to the hearing. The court's demanded information from the government about 43 missing men. It's been told where 35 of them are. Most are in custody.
'As the president has made clear, the US government does not engage in or condone torture. We don't have any other comment.'CIA statement
The families have formed a campaign group; their leader is Amina Massoud, who says her husband, was among many who went missing in Pakistan just after the London July 7th bombings. She believes there was British pressure and Pakistan wanted to be seen to be doing something.
There are affidavits from former detainees claiming to have seen some of the missing men in prison. Amina Massoud says there are other allegations - a few of the former detainees have said they were interrogated by Americans. One agrees to an interview, so long as I hide his identity. We meet in a hotel room:
"I was drinking a milk shake with a friend in Islamabad. They tied my hands and feet with chains and hooded me and dragged me into a car and I was held and interrogated and tortured for 15 days. The investigation was mainly by Pakistanis, sometimes Americans.
Kate Clarke: "What sort of torture?"
"They would ask me to kneel. My hands and feet were tied and they beat me with sticks and whipped me on my feet, on my hips and my arms. The Americans would ask questions. "
"Can you tell me what the Americans looked like?"
"Same as you. Some women, some men."
Two other former detainees have told me they were interrogated by Americans. One said he'd been forced to lie shackled on a cold floor for several days.
The former Guantanamo Bay inmate, Mamdouh Habib, who's now running for the Australian parliament, has accused American agents of actually torturing him in Pakistan in 2001. Amnesty International has also uncovered allegations of US intelligence operating here.
But the CIA told More 4 News, "As the president has made clear, the US government does not engage in or condone torture. We don't have any other comment."
Pakistan is certainly facing an extremist threat. It's been a bloody week - another suicide bombing and more deaths.
Brigadier Javed Chenna, Secretary General of the Interior Ministry, driving back from one of the funerals, says Pakistan does not practice torture and there are no foreign agencies operating here:
"This is an extraordinary situation that Pakistan is going through, but there are no disappearances, no incommunicado detentions, whenever someone is arrested, the due process of law takes place... In most of these cases, they have been indulging in extremist activities and even their families know what they were doing."
It's sometimes difficult to imagine anything untoward happening in Pakistan. But extremists acts are plotted here. And as for the forcibly disappeared, the government continues to dismiss a growing body of evidence.
Kate Clark reporting from Pakistan.
