Amnesty International terms drone attacks, Abbottabad raid illegal

In quite an unprecedented move, Amnesty International criticized the United States (US) for conducting Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden and using unmanned aircrafts to attack people in the Pakistan’s tribal areas.

The Human Rights group released its 50^th annual report, lashing out at the US for using lethal force in killing of Al-Qaeda chief in secret operation carried out by US NAVY seals.

It observed, “The US administration made clear that the operation had been conducted under the USA’s theory of a global armed conflict between the USA and Al-Qaeda in which the USA does not recognize the applicability of international human rights law”.

The report claimed that the killing of Osama bin Laden will appeared to have been illegal in the absence of further clarification from the American officials. It also raised questions about attacks by US unmanned aircrafts inside the Pakistani territory, which claimed many innocent lives.

Amnesty International stated that a request for clarification over an American spy attack in Yemen last year had also gone unreturned. Furthermore, it also spoke about missing persons and failures of the Pakistani government in safeguarding the rights of minorities.

It noted, “Out of several missing persons across Pakistan, only 220 of them were recovered”. Commenting on the ongoing killings of media professionals, the report said almost nine journalists were killed during 2011 across the country.

The protector of the human rights was of the opinion that the UN Security Council was flabby for the purpose and is failing to match the courage of protesters across the globe.

Highlighting the failure to end the bloodshed in Syria, the Amnesty International said the top security body of the United Nations looks redundant after repeated vetoes by major arms exporters Russia and China.

Its annual report also pointed out that emerging powers including South Africa, Brazil and India were complicit through their silence on key issues of human rights.

“The vocal support by many global powers in the early months of the Arab Spring in 2011 had not translated into action, with many international leaders now looking the other way”, it added.

The report also flayed criticism at Canada for failing to arrest former US president George W. Bush during a visit in October despite clear evidence that he was responsible for crimes under international law.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on May 24 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.