Washington, Dec. 3: The US government was advised to keep reports of human rights violations by the Pakistani Army under wraps by its then envoy to the country, Ms Anne Patterson, who also suggested that the focus should be on assistance to Islamabad that was a close ally on the war against terrorism.
This was disclosed by whistle-blower website Wikileaks, which released a secret US cable from the American embassy in Islamabad that was signed off by Ms Patterson.
“A growing body of evidence is lending credence to allegations of human rights abuses by Pakistan security forces during domestic operations against terrorists in Malakand division and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas,” said the cable, much before reports of abuses appeared on YouTube and other websites.
“The allegations of extra-judicial killings generally do not extend to what are locally referred to as ‘the disappeared’ — “high-value terrorist suspects and domestic insurgents who are being held incommunicado by Pakistani intelligence agencies including the Inter-Services Intelligence Division (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) in their facilities,” the cable said.