Pakistan army chief orders inquiry into shooting video
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DECLAN WALSH in Islamabad

PAKISTAN’S ARMY chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, has ordered an investigation into a video that purports to show a group of soldiers gunning down six blindfolded men in the country’s troubled northwest.

The video has renewed concerns about military human rights violations during operations against the Taliban. If authenticated it could jeopardise $2 billion (€1.4 billion) in US military subsidies to Pakistan, under a law that prohibits funding of armies with a record of gross human rights abuses. Gen Kayani said yesterday that a board of inquiry would determine the veracity of the video, including the identity of the killers in Pakistani army uniforms. But he added that in the past, Pakistani militants had posed as soldiers.

In the 5½-minute video, soldiers line up six blindfolded men, some apparently teenagers, in a wooded area. A soldier strolls up to the men and addresses them individually. Moments later a squad of at least six soldiers unleashes a volley of automatic gunfire. The detainees fall, some moaning in pain. – ( Guardian service)
This News Item was published in The Irish Newspaper on 9-10-2010