Physical abuse: New video poses new questions for army

Military says it is verifying the authenticity of footage.

KARACHI:

Close on the heels of paramilitary soldiers being caught on camera shooting a young, unarmed man in Karachi, a new video has surfaced showing alleged personnel of the armed forces inflicting intense physical abuse on four blindfolded men.

In the video, which has made its way onto social media sites, including Facebook, this week, a man in fatigues is seen sexually assaulting and beating at least four blindfolded men whose hands are bound to window and door frames. The man, who is shown grinning, is  assisted by another man wearing shalwar-kameez. The blindfolded men’s blood-curling screams are audible – as is the laughing of someone off-camera.

Though the allegations of the video involving the armed forces are far from substantiated, it is likely to stir up more anger towards the forces.

According to Inter-Services Public Relations’ (ISPR) Director Public Relations and Production Brigadier Syed Azmat Ali, the Pakistan Army is aware of the video. “It has been uploaded to YouTube, right? There are many such videos. It is part of a dedicated campaign.”

When asked who the campaign was by, he said there were “so many elements”.

“We will have to verify if the video is true or not,” he told The Express Tribune. “Naturally, the verification process has started.”

Ali said the video appeared to have been filmed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

There is no information on when the video was shot. It was uploaded to the same Facebook page that featured an earlier video of alleged Pakistan Army soldiers executing six blindfolded men.

Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had ordered an inquiry into that case. However, repeated requests by The Express Tribune for an update over a period of time resulted in the same response - “the inquiry is still underway” - and that anyone found guilty would be dealt with according to military law. According to the Pakistan Army Act 1952, officers can be charged with ‘certain forms of disgraceful conduct’, ‘irregular confinement’, ‘unbecoming behaviour’ and ‘violation of good order and discipline’.

Similar videos have surfaced before, including one of military personnel assaulting people in a police station. According to the ISPR, the people involved in the incident were punished.

In a 2009 US Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks, then-US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson had noted that there was evidence to back allegations of human rights abuses by the Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps in military operations in Malakand Division and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The video’s release comes at a time when there is growing public criticism of the military, including in parliament.

A press release issued by the ISPR after the 139th Corps Commanders Conference last week stated that “...some quarters, because of their perceptual biases, were trying to deliberately run down the Armed Forces and Army in particular. This is an effort to drive a wedge between the Army, different organs of the State and more seriously, the people of Pakistan whose support the Army has always considered vital for its operations against terrorists.”

According to a report published in The Express Tribune on Tuesday, the military and civilian leadership have discussed measures to curtail the growing criticism of the armed forces.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2011.