Collective punishment is banned by Article 33 of the Geneva Conventions which says that someone should not be punished for a crime he did not personally commit. A new report about human rights abuses in Swat is causing some controversy and rumour that aid will be withheld. If there is some evidence of crimes, they should be presented and properly investigated by the military. If there are soldiers that have committed a crime, they should be punished. But the entire nation of Pakistan should not suffer from withholding of aid. This would be a collective punishment far worse than is realized.
An article in the Washington Post newspaper says that a new human rights report threatens aid to Pakistan.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had documented the extrajudicial execution of as many as 300 alleged Taliban supporters and sympathizers in the area around Mingora, the Swat capital, in interviews with more than 100 Swat families in February and March. A report on the alleged abuses, including torture, home demolitions, illegal detentions and disappearances, is scheduled for release this month.
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Most U.S. aid to Pakistan falls under congressional restrictions requiring the administration to certify the country’s adherence to human rights laws and norms. Since 2002, the United States has provided $11.6 billion in military aid and $6 billion in development assistance, according to Congressional Research Service figures. The administration has requested an additional $3 billion in combined aid for 2011.
War is a terrible thing. Unfortunately, there are some things that can happen in a war zone that should not. The Americans should be aware of this as even their own soldiers have committed some acts of extrajudicial killings. This is no conspiracy theory, but simply an unfortunate fact.
But the Americans know that the proper solution is to punish the guilty party, not the entire nation. Last month an American judge declared that a US Marine must face trial for killing civilians in Haditha. If he is guilty, he should be punished accordingly. But it does not mean the entire country of America should be punished.
Likewise, if there have been some extrajudicial killings in NWFP, please let the human right watch present the evidence to the military so that they can investigate and, if there is some proofs, bring the guilty party to justice. But do not punish the entire nation of Pakistan for the (alleged) crimes of one person.
There is no official policy of collective punishment by the military, and there should be not official policy of collective punishment against the people of Pakistan by withholding aid. Actually, treating Pakistan as if it were the terrorist would work against the goal of defeating the militants.
Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas denied allegations of abuse, saying that the military had invited human rights groups to investigate earlier charges during the June-to-September offensive in the former Taliban stronghold. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, he said, issued written directives ordering troops operating in Swat and other regions to respect the rule of law.
“If we are seen as becoming terrorists against the terrorists,” Abbas said, “all we have gained will go up in the air.” He suggested that reported killings or other abuses were the result of “scores being settled between the people and the Taliban,” many of whom remain in the mountains surrounding settled areas in Swat.
The problem here is actually one of how to handle the militant miscreants that are captured.
The army is holding about 2,500 detainees from counterinsurgency operations in Swat and elsewhere in the north and west, about 1,000 of them in Swat. The military has no judicial arm to prosecute them and has complained that Pakistan’s slow-moving civilian judiciary was unable to handle them.
Again, this is a similar problem to one that is faced by the Americans with their own ‘detainees.’ Besides, even according the Washington Post reporter, the residents of Swat support the military. Would they do this if there were grave acts of human rights violations? Also, according to this same article, the group that wrote the human rights report has been unable to verify military involvement in the alleged abuse.
If there is evidence of a soldier in the military committing some abuses, please let that evidence be delivered to the proper military authorities so that the person can be investigated. But do not punish the innocent people of Pakistan collectively. The aid promised by the US will help rebuild the economy and infrastructure while we fight the militant terrorists. And that will help end all of the violence. Surely that is the greater good.
Blessed are those who flout the UN Article 33 and
are treated as bosom friends of the West and Israel! For thou’st know that only fools believe in this article and get beaten and battered in the
name of democracy.Look at the plight of those who
are being collectively punished the Afghans,Iraqis
Kashmiris and Palestinians.How impudent of the WP
to point finger at Pakistan Army at behest of RAW
and ignore the real issue of such abuses all the time being inflicted by their “Divine Mentors” the
zionist and kalists against the subjugated people
of Palestine and Kashmir.
Why do not we people stand on our own??Why we all the time beg from others? who give us peanuts on strict terms, the only solution to our problems is that we should now quit the habit of begging from others and stand on our own like Iran.
I reject this idea that Pakistan does not stand on its own. Says who? You? So Pakistan gets some aid, so what. How is this different from the US taking money from China? http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/19/china-debt-fed-business-beijing-dispatch.html Yes, the name is called something different, but still it is the same. Show me some nation that “stands on its own” and has no connection with some other country. I am tired of people putting my country down and calling it a beggar because it takes some aid. All countries take aid from each other is some form or another, and all of these have some conditions attached. You think US has no conditions that they have to abide? HA! Please stop putting my country down as a beggar.
Dear Khalid,
Do you think that the secular,progressive and humanist West are all fools to be deceived by RAW? Why can’t you see the devastation earlier and even now being inflicted by Islamists and Islamic theocracies like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia all over the world? Why can’t you see the dangers held out by Islamist fanatics to all humanity, inclusive of non-Muslims and rational, humane Muslims? Why don’t you talk of the killings of thousands of Hindus and humanist Muslims at the hands of Muslim extremists in Kashmir who want to divide country and humanity in the name of Muslims’ victory over kaffirs, who want to replace secularism and humanity by discredited theocracy? Why do you forget that it’s the Palestinians and other Arabs who since 1946 have consistently rejected all attempts at peace and coexistence of Arab and Jew, of Muslim and non-Muslim? During my college days I interacted with many Arabs, and I’m sorry to say that their vast majority held inhumane views about non-Muslims. Why is it that there are no religious terrorists except those in the name of Islam?
The world and its non-Muslims do appreciate humanist Muslims. So do try to see things justly.
If you want to have the remedy, you must first appreciate the disease without prejudice.
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