News
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Pakistan rejects Amnesty International report* Kaira says no proof presented against govt, forces
* Says govt never conceals casualties, estimates of damagesISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira has strongly rejected the latest report of the Amnesty International in which the human rights body stated that a number of civilian casualties in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) have not been reported during the war against terrorism.
In a statement on Saturday, the minister said such allegations have been levelled against the government and the security agencies in the past too but no tangible proof was ever presented by those who make such allegations. Pakistan has been in the frontline of the war against terror and its security forces and innocent citizens have rendered innumerable sacrifices for this cause, he said.
Kaira said that the casualties of the security forces alone were over 1,000 while civilian casualties were much higher. The security forces have eliminated scores of terrorists during this period and broken their back and destroyed their hideouts, he said. The government has never concealed the figures of casualties of civilian and the security agencies as well as the estimates of collateral damages caused by the terrorists, he said.
The media and other organisations enjoy complete freedom to make assessment of the damages and report casualties, he said, adding the Amnesty’s report seems to have been kind of misleading the world community, which is supporting the global effort against terrorism. The government and the forces have full public support in the war and this has enabled the forces to eliminate terrorism, he said.
The minister commented that whenever and wherever there had been any report of any incident of human rights violation, a strict disciplinary action has always been taken. He said that the government was committed to protecting the rights of every citizen as per law of the land. The government believes that sustained success in war against terrorism could only be maintained by public support, he said. He said that the fact was that the peace loving people have rejected the mindset breeding militancy and terrorism.
Kaira pointed out that the local and international media know better that it was the Taliban extremists, and not the government or the security agencies, who started human rights violations in Swat which later spread to other parts of the country, including the FATA. He said that the government and the security forces, with the help of the people, uprooted these extremist elements from there and destroyed their network. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk