Asia

U.S. Urges Pakistan to Help Capture Taliban Leaders

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PAKISTAN – U.S. and NATO forces are concentrating their military efforts in Quetta, the capital of the Baluchistan Province, Pakistan. Quetta is believed to be the center of operations for Taliban leaders and where the group has been sending supplies such as arms, money and fighters to southern Afghanistan.

Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar is one of many said to be hiding in Quetta. It is claimed that he guides commanders in southern Afghanistan, raises money from Gulf donors and delivers arms and fighters.

The U.S. intends to send about 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, but military officials say that this effort may be fruitless unless Pakistan assists in capturing Taliban leaders and cutting supply lines into Afghanistan.

U.S. and other western officials claim that Pakistani security forces do little to address the presence of Taliban military commanders in Quetta.

Pakistani officials state that their intelligence does not indicate where Taliban leaders are located.

“Pakistan will act against any individuals involved with Al Qaeda or the Taliban about whom we have actionable intelligence,” said Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. “The problem is we do not always get actionable intelligence in Quetta in particular. It’s a very messy area.”

Some officials understand the hardship of the Pakistani government in Islamabad in capturing Taliban leaders. The Baluchistan Province has been a known hostile area to the government and it is difficult for government spies to get sources there.

However, members of the Obama administration believe that it must put pressure upon the Pakistani government to aid in U.S. efforts. “We’ve made some progress going into the tribal areas and North-West Frontier Province against Al Qaeda, but we have not had a counterpart war against the Quetta shura,” said a senior Obama administration official. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the Obama administration will threaten to cut off military aid to Islamabad unless Pakistan carries out a crackdown on militants operating throughout the country.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Pakistan Complicit in Killing by Taliban, a Polish Official Says – 10 February 2009

International Herald Tribune – The Taliban in Pakistan are Raising U.S. Fears – 10 February 2009

Newsweek – Pakistan’s Dangerous Double Game – 13 September 2008

Uzbek Refugee on Trial

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

UZBEKISTAN – Haiatjon Juraboev, a refugee, was abducted from Kyrgyzstan last year and returned to Uzbekistan where he is now believed to be on trial.  He is charged with religious extremism and illegal border crossing. The trial was scheduled on January 30.

“We’re very concerned about Juraboev’s safety and well-being in Uzbek custody,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Kyrgyzstan’s failure to protect him is a sad reflection on the state of that country’s refugee protection system.”

In 2007, Juraboev was extradited by the Russian government to Uzbekistan.  He was subsequently arrested and released with no charges.  Juraboev then fled to Kyrgyzstan and registered as an asylum seeker by the Kyrgyz State Committee for Migration and Employment.  He was granted refugee status by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in September 2008.

While in Kyrgystan, Juraboev was at a mosque in Bishkek, the capital.  A man claiming to be a Kyrgyz National Security Service officer directed him into a car.  He disappeared until January when his mother learned he was in Tashkent prison.

Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to President Kurmanbek Bakiev of Kyrgyzstan in December.  They asked the government to protect and stop deporting refugees and asylum seekers.  It also calls for the investigations in the disappearances.

“The Uzbek government has made clear it will continue to hound dissidents within and outside its international borders without letting its legal obligations get in the way,” said Cartner. “The Kyrgyz government needs to confirm or deny that its National Security Service apprehended and forcibly returned Juraboev. If it was not involved, then Kyrgyzstan should protest to the Uzbek government that foreign agents operating on its soil abducted and returned an Uzbek refugee, and demand his return.”

Human Rights Watch further states that the Kyrgyz and Uzbek government should collaborate in bringing justice to those responsible for these abductions.

Since 2005, Kyrgyzstan has extradited more than a dozen refugees to Uzbekistan.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Uzbekistan:  Abducted Refugee on Trial – 5 February 2009

Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty – Uzbek Refugee Returned to Uzbekistan for Trial – 10 February 2009

Reuters – Rights Group Urges Kyrgyzstan Not to Extradite Uzbek – 14 May 2008

Vietnam Releases Anti-Corruption Journalist

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HANOI, Vietnam – Nguyen Viet Chien, a well known anti-corruption reporter for the Thanh Nien newspaper, was granted the Lunar New Year amnesty. On January 15th, Vietnamese President Nguyen Mihn Triet signed for Chien’s freedom before his jail term ended. Chien is one amongst 15,000 prisoners to be freed before the prisoner’s jail term.

Among those to be released as part of the Lunar New Year amnesty are 36 foreigners including 19 Chinese, five Taiwanese, four Cambodians, three Malaysians, one Briton, one French, one South Korean, one Laotian, and one Sri Lankan.

In May 2008, Chien and his colleague Nguyen Van Hai was arrested for covering a high profile scandal where government officials were accused of misusing large sums of public funds. In October Chien was charged with “abusing freedom and democratic rights” and sentenced to two years in jail. Throughout trial Chien maintained his innocence. Chien’s arrest and conviction caused an international outcry.

Chien’s colleague, Hai pleaded guilty and was awarded a lenient sentence to two years of re-education without detention. International Media Watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, called the prosecution of Chien and Hai as a “terrible step backwards for investigative journalism in Vietnam”.

The Vice Minister of Public Security Le The Tiem told reporters that “Nguyen Viet Chien will be released in this presidential amnesty for showing remorse while serving his sentence,” and “Mr. Chien co-operated with the authorities so he was granted this special amnesty.”

Reporters Without Borders said, “This early release is obviously a good thing in itself, but it will not make us forget that this journalist should never have gone to prison in the first place … This case now being closed, it is time for the government to introduce reforms that will prevent this kind of scandal happening again.”

For more information, please see:

AP – Official: Vietnam to Release Jailed Reporter Early– 16 January 2009

BBC – Vietnam Reporter Freed in Amnesty– 16 January 2009

RSF – Government Announces Early Release of Journalist Nguyen Viet Chien– 19 January 2009

Ill-Treatment of Rohingya in Myanmar

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – Hundreds of thousands Rohingya, a Muslim minority from the western part of Myanmar, have fled the country to escape poverty and oppression.  The military rulers do not recognize the Rohingya as Myanmar citizens.  They are denied citizenship under the1982 citizenship law, and often harassed and beaten by the security forces.  They must obtain an official permit to travel from town to town.

Rohingya are subjected to routine forced labor in Myanmar.  Chris Lewa at the Arakan Project says that typically a Rohingya man will have to give up one day a week to work on military or government projects, and one night for sentry duty. However, Myanmar Buddhists living in the area are not required to do this.

Myanmar’s senior official has described the Rohingya as “ugly as ogres.”  According to the South China Morning Post, the country’s Consul General Ye Myint Aung wrote to heads of foreign missions in Hong Kong and local newspapers stating the Muslim tribe should not be described as being from Myanmar.  “In reality, Rohingya are neither Myanmar people nor Myanmar’s ethnic group,” he said.  The envoy also contrasted the “dark brown” Rohingya complexion with the “fair and soft” skin of people from Myanmar, the Post reported.

The US has called on Junta to stop persecuting its Rohingya Muslim minority.  “The US was aware of the fleeing of Rohingyas from Myanmar for persecution and economic reasons,” Mr. Boucher told a news conference in Dhaka.  “It’s a matter of concern and the US wants that Myanmar stops the persecution of Rohingyas.”

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), about 230,000 Rohingya now live in Bangladesh, having fled from abuse by Junta.  Refugees have told stories about how the military authorities there have beaten and abused them.  Many have shown scars on their bodies they claimed were caused by Burmese soldiers whipping them as a warning not to return to the country.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Myanmar envoy brands boatpeople ‘ugly as ogres’: report – 11 February 2009

BBC – Burma ‘must stop Rohingya abuse‘ – 09 February 2009

BBC – What drives the Rohingya to sea? – 05 February 2009

Jurist – Mistreatment of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority requires coordinated regional response – 11 February 2009

Thai Soldiers Accused of Torturing in the South

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – On January 13th, Amnesty International released a report accusing the Thai military of engaging in “systematic torture” on suspected Muslim insurgents in the Southern Thailand.

The Thai government has been engaged in a conflict with Malay separatists in the South since 2004 where 3,500 have died. The Muslim majority in the South mainly speaks a Malay dialect. In 2004, a group of Muslim insurgents stormed an army depot, killed 4 soldiers, stole weapons, and burned down 20 schools. As a response, the then-Thai government wanted to “win the hearts and minds” of the Muslim majority and promised a new approach to the South. Currently 30,000 Thai soldiers are stationed in the South.

Torture is outlawed in Thailand. However, in Amnesty International’s report, it documented instances of torture by Thai security forces since 2007.  34 torture cases were cited, which included four torture victims who died in custody.

Amnesty International believes there are 21 unofficial detention centers where insurgent suspects are detained and mistreated. NGOs, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, are denied access to these facilities making it difficult for human rights groups to monitor abuses. The detainees are also denied visits by relatives and lawyers.

The Muslim paramilitary units are also blamed for violence. Since 2004, insurgents have attacked civilians, targeted Buddhist monks and school teachers, and tortured and killed soldiers and police. “We understand the pressure they are under. But there are simply no circumstances under which torture is justified,” said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International South East Asia team.

The new Thai government also promised a new approach to the South. On December 25, 2008 the government formed an investigation team to look into the death of Yapa Kaseng, a local Muslim Imam. The inquest named Thai soldiers responsible for Kaseng’s death. Human rights advocates argue that criminal charges should be brought against those responsible in order for the new government’s claims to have credibility.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Thai Troops ‘Torturing in South’ – 13 January 2009

BBC –Thailand’s Savage Southern Conflict– 13 January 2009

Financial Times – Thai Army Accused of Torture in Report– 13 January 2009