Pakistan Execution Video: Pakistani Soldiers Execute Six Men?

by NowPublic Staff | September 30, 2010 at 01:18 pm

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Men In Pakistani Military Uniforms Execute Six Blindfolded Men - Implications for US/Pakistani Relations? (video)

An execution video that surfaced on the Internet has the potential to damage US and Pakistani military relations. The 5 minute plus video shows what appear to be soldiers dressed in Pakistani military uniforms executing six blindfolded men.

Pakistan Execution Video (warning graphic violence)

The gruesome executions are by firing squad and take place at close range. They were apparently shot by a cell phone and some reports say could have been taken in the Swat Valley area of Pakistan.

Pakistan, according the New York Times, dismissed the possibility that Pakistani soldiers where involved, pointing out the video first surfaced on a Jihadi website.

Pakistan army officials said the footage was part of a propaganda campaign aimed at smearing the army and destroying hearts and minds.

"No Pakistan army soldier or officer has been involved in activity of this sort", Major General Athar Abbass told the New York Times.

Apparently, US military officials who have seen the video believe it could be authentic.

Steve Inskeep of NPR interviewed The New York Times Pakistan correspondent in Islamabad, Jane Perlez.

INSKEEP: Now, what are the implications then, if Pakistan, a critical U.S. ally, is implicated in this way, in what would qualify as a terrible human rights abuse?

Ms. PERLEZ: There is a law in the United States that forbids an administration from funding units in a foreign army that are found to have conducted gross human rights violations. And so thats one thing. And then there is the overall embarrassment of the Americans being entangled, and supporting, and encouraging an army that may have allowed such a thing to happen.