Public Intelligence

Picture taken on the tarmac of Kandahar military airport on June 13, 2010 of a US Predator unmanned drone armed with a missile. AFP PHOTO/Massoud HOSSAINI/POOL

Over 900 killed in drone attacks: HRCP (The Nation – Pakistan):

As many as 957 persons became victim of the US drone attacks while 12,580 were murdered, 581 were kidnapped for ransom and 16,977 cases of abduction were reported in Pakistan during the year 2010, says a report on ‘State of Human Rights in 2010’.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) launched the report on Thursday during a ceremony held in a local hotel. Dr Mehdi Hasan, Chairman HRCP, and I.A. Rehman, Secretary General of the Commission, were also present on the occasion besides many others.

The report depicting the country’s bad law and order situation says that 957 people became victims of US drones strikes during 2010 and what the report called extra-legal killings.

It says that 1,159 people were killed in 67 suicide attacks during 2010 and the fatalities included 1,041 civilians while 2,542 people were killed and 5,062 injured in terrorist attacks.

“Violence, political and otherwise, led to the death of over 750 people in target killings in Karachi alone,” says the report. At least 237 political activists and 301 other civilians were killed in target killings in Karachi while 81 people were killed in Lyari gang wars. In addition to that, 118 people were killed and 40 injured in 117 target killings in Balochistan besides bodies of 59 missing persons were found in the province. According to the report, 34 new cases of enforced disappearance were reported to HRCP during 2010.

State of Human Rights 2010 (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan):

Extrajudicial killings by various actors continued in the country. There were killings by police across the country, US drone strikes in FATA and attacks and targeted killings of members of religious minority and ethnic communities as well as political activists. According to media reports, US drones launched 134 attacks in the tribal areas of Pakistan in 2010, killing at least 957 people and injuring another 383. There was no way of independently verifying claims of killing of militants in these attacks. Several media reports stated that women and children were also among those killed in the drone strikes. The highest number of attacks, 117, was reported from NorthWaziristan Agency, accounting for 802 deaths and injuries to over 300 persons. In June, HRCP drew the government’s attention to the report of a United Nations expert on targeted killings, including those through drone strikes, and urged Pakistan to ensure that the conduct of its own forces was not in violation of human rights and humanitarian law. HRCP stated that such actions did grave damage to the rules designed to protect the right to life and to prevent extrajudicial executions. The report by UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston had called the United States “the most prolific user of targeted killings”, primarily through drone attacks, which Mr Alston referred to as “ill-defined licence to kill without accountability”. The report also raised the issue of death of innocent civilians in drone strikes and noted that even “[a] consenting state may only lawfully authorise a killing by the targeting State to the extent that the killing is carried out in accordance with applicable IHL [international humanitarian law] or human rights law”.