Pakistani government and ICRC at odds over access to detainees and applicablity of Geneva Conventions

Dawn reports that the Pakistani government has refused to allow the ICRC to visit jails in Khyber Paktunkhwa and Balochistan in order to visit hundreds of prisoners under charges of militancy and insurgency in Khyber and FATA. According to the ICRC and armed conflict exists in Pakistan’s north-West area, while Pakistan denies this and says [...]

More assassinations of Pakistani ‘informers’ because of increase in drones

The Washington Post reports that the current pace of assassinations of people who are labeled as US informers is unprecedented. The escalation parallels a massive surge in CIA drone attacks on North Waziristan. CIA drones have fired 112 missiles on Pakistan’s tribal areas this year, 88 percent of which hit North Waziristan, in a campaign [...]

ICG report on Reforming Pakistan’s Criminal Justice System

Read it here.

An insight in how the UN’s 1267 comittee’s focal point for delisting works

Cable 09STATE83026 gives an unusal look insight in how the UN’s process for delisting terrorists works. The cable tells the story about how legal representatives for 1267-listed entity Jamaat-ud-Dawah and its leader, Muhammad Saeed (permanent reference number QI.S.263.08) petitioned on their clients behalf for delisting via the UN focal point. The focal point forwarded the [...]

The EU as a counter-terrorism actor abroad

This paper by the EPC looks at thehandling of counter-terrorism in the ensemble of EU external relations and assistance vis-à-vis five countries of recognised importance for European interests: Algeria, Morocco, Yemen, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

75% of Pakistani terrorism cases result in acquittals

The La Times reports that in Punjab Pakistan’s  largest and wealthiest province, nearly three of every four terrorism cases in 2009 and the first six months of this year ended with acquittals, according to provincial court records. And while army offensives have dented militant activity in the restive Swat Valley and parts of the largely [...]

Pakistani judge asks government clarification on rendition of Pakistani citizens to Bagram

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif has sought in the beginning of October a reply from the ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs on a petition against the abduction and extradition to foreign countries of seven Pakistani citizens now detained at the Bagram Theatre Internment Camp in Afghanistan. Sharif directed the lawyer representing [...]

Pakistani Troops Linked to Abuses Will Lose Aid

The Obama administration will withhold training and equipment for about a half-dozen Pakistani Army units that are believed to have killed unarmed prisoners and civilians during recent offensives against the Taliban, according to senior administration and Congressional officials, the NYTimes reports.The Leahy Amendment, a law that stretches back more than a decade, requires the United [...]

Pakistan intelligence services ‘aided Mumbai terror attacks’

According to The Guardian the ISI was were heavily involved in preparations for the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008, according to classified Indian government documents obtained by the Guardian. A 109-page report into the interrogation of key suspect David Headley, a Pakistani-American militant arrested last year and detained in the US, makes detailed claims [...]

Musharaf admits Pakistan supported militants in Kashmir

In an interview with Der Spiegel the former president says: SPIEGEL: Why did you form militant underground groups to fight India in Kashmir? Musharraf: They were indeed formed. The government turned a blind eye because they wanted India to discuss Kashmir. SPIEGEL: It was the Pakistani security forces that trained them. Musharraf: The West was [...]