Carol Anne Grayson (Radical Sister) blog

Repeated evidence of shredded, damaged and missing government records

Civil servants working in government offices have gross deficiencies when it comes to keeping important files safe. This level of extraordinary incompetence which seems to be common practice would ensure that most ordinary office workers were released from their post. The latest incident concerns CIA rendition flights now admitted to have refuelled on the British territory island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean however there is a long list of damaged document scandals relating to the British government.

Lord David Owen found it “inexplicable” that ministerial files were pulped

Lord David Owen was astonished to discover his ministerial files when he was health minister were trashed years in advance of the allotted time span given for keeping them secure. He told the Guardian in 2002 he had wished to present information regarding blood safety in 1988 however he had been unable to give evidence of his personal view that the source of donors (from US prisons and “skid-row” plasma centres) was unreliable because his private office papers had “for some inexplicable reason been pulped”.

Later in 2007 he raised fears of a government HIV blood “cover-up” with the Guardian once again which stated,

Lord Owen is expected to query why several volumes of documents relating to the issue were destroyed at a time when a similar HIV-tainted blood scandal was erupting in France. “This may be a coincidence – but it may also be a reason why the documents were destroyed. The inquiry will find out if there is any deliberate cover-up or simply maladministration.”

The Guardian explained further saying,

Since 1988 Lord Owen, who went on to become foreign secretary before later leading the SDP, has battled to see evidence backing up what he was told by doctors and officials at the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) during his time as health minister. The DHSS pulped his official papers 10 years after he left the department, without telling him – an action he describes as “inexplicable”.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/jul/11/health.aids

In addition thousands of other papers documenting government blood policy that led to around 4,500 haemophiliacs becoming contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C from imported US prison blood were “inadvertently shredded by a junior civil servant”.

The civil servant concerned appears to have gone on a shredding frenzy over different time periods and just happened to have destroyed important papers that would have shown alleged negligence by well known politicians and helped haemophiliacs and their families claim proper compensation for loss of life and irreversible damage to health. It must have taken a mammoth amount of time and effort to get rid of so much evidence. Years later the issue has still not been resolved and has been taken up by Alistair Burt MP.

To add insult to grievious injury, patients’ hospital files across the UK also started disappearing in droves at the same time along with plasma shipping records… you couldn’t make it up!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2942382.stm

Simon Danczuk concerned over missing records related to alleged paedophiles in parliament

Then this week  it was revealed in the Guardian that “a dossier compiled by an MP detailing allegations of a 1980s Westminster paedophile ring is one of more than 100 potentially relevant Home Office files destroyed, lost or missing.”

Simon Danczuk, the MP for Rochdale, who is calling for an overarching national inquiry into historical child abuse, said: “I had absolutely no idea these other files were also missing. The public view will be that there is something fishy going on. The public will understandably think these documents have gone missing because it helps protect the names of those identified in them. That is the conclusion that many will come to, and who could blame them”

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/05/lost-child-abuse-files-home-office

Then today Reprieve human rights organization issued a press statement on none other than government damaged files (see their statement below). Surely the time has come for an investigation into just how many files over the years on key matters of national importance have been “lost” are incomplete or damaged. This is a disgrace and is either incompetence on a huge scale or a determined effort to conceal vital information which may show politicians in a poor light (even more so than we already know).

There must be accountability on behalf of the government just as for the rest of us that would have been hauled over the coals for losing precious data. There is also the question of confidentiality as some records contain sensitive information pertaining to individuals and groups and for that to go missing is a matter of grave concern. The public need to be alerted and raise their voice on this matter (after all it could be papers on issues important to them destroyed next time round). We must fight to get the answers we deserve!

Diego Garcia documents on rendition evidence suffer “water damage”

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad . She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

” We will never surrender”

We will never surrender,
If we strive,
We will grind the sand to eat,
If we are thirsty,
We will drink the sea water,
If we are homeless,
We will make the earth our beds,
And sky our covers,
If all doors are closed,
We will knock the door of sky,
If all trees are cut,
We will plant more,
If we lose our kids,
We will give birth for thousands,

We will never surrender,
In spite of the thousands of martyrs,
The pain of our prisoners’ mothers,
The tears of our widows,
The loss of our limbs,
The shouts of our wounds,
The pieces of our shreds,
The rubble of our homes,
The crying of our orphans,
The corpses of our bodies,
The sounds of your warplanes,
The sounds of your bombs,
The fear of our children,

We will never surrender,
Although you are the knife,
And we are the flesh,
You are the killer ,
And we are the murder,
You are the kidnapper,
And we are the hostage,
You are the oppressor,
And we are the oppressed,
You are the occupier,
And we are the occupied,
You are the strong by your weapons,
And we are the strong by our faith,
You are the rock,
And we are the drops,
Drop, drop, drop,
The rock will crack down,
And we will never surrender.

Written by Ahmed Noor

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad . She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Republished as part of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture 26th June 2014 (first appeared in Asia Despatch, 2011)

Sami (not his real name to protect his confidentiality) turned 50 this year. He has resided in Britain for many years, safe from the threat of harm but living in fear of his memories. This kind and gentle man suffers from a condition known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which is a severe anxiety disorder than can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma.

Many people have raised questions about the no-fly zone over Libya and NATO involvement in the region but Sami is not amongst them. He lives with the hope that Colonel Muammar Muhammad al Gaddafi leader of Libya for the past 42 years and his sons will be brought to justice for crimes against his own people and feels that exile is not enough. Sami was not in fact a Libyan citizen when he fell foul of the regime but a citizen of neighbouring Tunisia. It is only in recent months that he has felt strong enough to share his story.

A raid on the phosphate town of Gafsa in Central Tunisia (population 30,000) on 26^th January 1980 was to have a marked effect on Sami’s life. The attack was an attempt to seize Gafsa’s civil and military installations, took 20 hours to subdue and left 40 dead and more than 100 injured. The incident described as “diabolic” was blamed on Gaddafi by Tunisian Prime Minister Hedi Nouira who claimed that it was made to look as if the attack came from neighbouring Algeria.

TIME in partnership with CCN (1980) reported that, “Libyan authorities had expressed astonishment at the Tunisian charges. But hostility and distrust between the two countries had been simmering ever since President Habib Bourguiba had backed out of a 1974 agreement to merge Tunisia with Libya in a single Islamic Arab Republic. Gaddafi continues to harbour a deep personal resentment over the incident, and has supported several previous attempts to engineer Bourguiba’s downfall.”

Sami (18 then) was on that bitterly cold night living with his father (an officer in the Tunisian army) sister and 3 little brothers in a house on military grounds. His mother was away staying at her father’s home as Sami’s grandfather had recently passed away. He had taken the decision not to attend the funeral as he had lived with his grandfather, was very close to him and wanted to remember him as he was, not riddled with cancer. Sami could not have foreseen the consequences of that fateful decision.

Sami chatted to his father for a while, checked the gate to see if it was locked and went to bed however he was unable to sleep. This is his account of that night:-

Tortured memories

“I was still awake and recalling the memories of my grand dad when around 2.30 am in the morning the dust from the ceiling trickled on my face and the furniture and garments shook following massive loud blasts just outside our walls. We were all awake in unison and with the same look of terror on our faces. My father came to join us. He said to me in total astonishment “perhaps its a military manoeuvre” then after pausing for a second and the second wave of explosions and small gunfire erupted he ordered me to put my clothes on. He went to his room and put his uniform on.

By the time we were both ready in the courtyard of our house, hell was loose. People were shouting in all directions. The exchanges of fire were intensifying and the night was lit. The smell was horrid burned powder mixed with dust. My sisters and brothers inside the room were figures of stone. My little brother was hugging my sister and sobbing almost in silence. My two other brothers were waiting for an explanation from me. I just urge them to be quiet. My father was standing up bemused by our fence not knowing what to do. I was standing up next to him. I peaked over the fence and looked on the outside and saw a bus halted in front of the main gates of the adjacent barracks being shot at by a mob of armed men. The evacuees were led and orders to hide behind the barracks fence. I was reporting the event to my father when he decided to open our gate to have a closer look.

I was not sure what all the commotion was about and was waiting for my father to come back with an answer. He came back running instead shouting at me to hide and I followed him but I was caught before I reached the room by a frightening loud voice saying, “stop or you are dead”. I froze.The armed man ordered me to turn around slowly and put my hand up. I did though my mind was blank with terror. He did not look inside the rooms, perhaps through fear or he was satisfied with one catch. Either ways my father was with my sister and brothers and out of sight.

The gunman ordered me to walk in front and get out of the house. At the gate, in a moment of panic I decided to run for it, toward the school at the other side of the road behind our house believing that the cover of dark was in my advantage and I knew better. My run was abruptly cut short, when my left foot felt as though it was no longer part of me but a burning painful mass. I was shot…it was too fast to hear, either to warning shouts or the shots.

I fell on the floor choking on my own saliva, don’t shoot. The man was already on top of me shouting, “where do you think you’re going, you son of a whore aiming a spit at me”. I stood up limped a few paces then the pain took control of my whole leg and I was going to the ground. I begged again, “in God’s name don’t shoot I will walk. I stood up and suddenly bullets were ricocheting on the fence all next to us. He then pulled me and using me as a shield and changed direction and made me cross to the other side of the road. I was part running and part hopping on one foot. At the turn of the road there was a building used by immigration (garde nationale) as a detention centre. He orders me to go inside.

I was wearing blue jeans, a green army jacket and black leather boots, of which the left one was heavy, wet and my foot inside it was pulsing with a dull pain. Two other armed guards were in the lobby of the detention centre. One immigration officer was faintly mumbling in pain and blood was seeping from his coagulated blood covered face, another was flat on his face, bleeding from his neck and motionless. I was led still hopping on one foot to a small reception room. I was trembling, cold and terrified. I was ordered to sit and asked about company, order and rank. I responded in a very fearful voice that I was a civilian, the son of a soldier. One man rushed towards me slapped me on my  head several times saying “ are you f…… with us you arse giver?” Another one holds his gun at my temple and asks Colonel Ben A and Colonel M. B or are you dead, you and your f…… mother”, I beggingly answered that I would not know and that I was a civilian.

The same questions were asked again accompanied by several knocks and slaps on my head and face and the same answers were uttered by me begging for mercy in the name of God in tears. This went on and on for what it seemed a fast eternity. The one that shot me, giving up, yelled “civilian” :…son of a whore”. You are lying to us…I am going to make you suffer. He put his rifle against the wall rushed swiftly all raged up towards me, lifts me up holds me against him with both my arms tight, and asks his mate to drop my trousers. The second man rushed my trousers down to my legs with me shouting from the grazing to my hips and the pain of shame. They threw me back on the chair and my interrogator and shooter pulls a hand gun and said “you are talking or we are going to f… you” he was at the same time pointing to an empty bottle.

A cola bottle was on a table close by. It has suddenly become my new focus of terror. I still swore that I did not know where the two colonels were or where they lived. Then furiously and painfully my hair was grabbed, I was lifted up and that bottle was brought closer by the second man and placed on the floor next to the chair.

My body’s entire skin was cold but now I felt my whole body trembling ho. Begging and screaming I was lowered down to the bottle, held from my hair with one hand, while in his other hand the man had his gun at my temple. The second man made sure I was guided down to the bottle that was aimed. Swearing a salvo and forcing me downwards both men made sure the bottle neck after a few frantic attempts went inside me as far as it could agonisingly go.

I screamed in terror and pain and resisted then resigned my body to do the rest when the gun was squeezed harder against my cheek. I was nearly fainting both with sheer fright and with utmost shame, an order to stop from the third man, stopped the whole commotion for a moment, then I was pulled up, the bottle held until I was slightly on my way up, fell on the ground and bounced on the floor, rolling away. The third man was merely a silent spectator then said, “I don’t think this mad boy knows anything.” He orders them to let go of me and told me to pull my trousers up in a nearly compassionate voice.

He ordered me to head for the exit. Both tortured immigration officers were now in a pool of blood with no sign of life. A head fully covered in blood from which only the white in the eyes could be seen. Two gunmen were walking behind me and I was hopping in front held by the third, my eyes were swollen from the tears and I was getting dizzier. I received the order from the man that shot me and now holding me (later his name is revealed to me) to head for the barrack gates and join the detainees. They stopped at the turn of the road and I head to go and cross and join a line of squatting civilians by the barrack gates. The body of the sentinel is resting bloodied next to me and two more dead soldiers were just on the inside of the gates. Sporadically one of the gunmen sheltering behind the disabled bus, shoots a record propelled grenade at random inside the barracks without venturing too far.

Gafsa 27^th January 1980, at dawn I was bleeding and weakening. One man crawls next to me to undo my laces from my right boot and tied a tourniquet just below my left knee. My eyes were getting heavier and all noises were indistinctive. I could only hear my own voice cal God in a steady sequence, my mouth was too stiff to open. I woke up several days later at the hospital in Tunis. I was airlifted by request from my father. I was told that my tight boots and tourniquet just about contained my blood loss before I was rescued.

Later I knew that my sister A and my brothers helped my father hide under the bed until he could reach his regiment the next day.

The night raid on Gafsa on the 2th January 1980 was a co-ordinated attack by 60 Islamist insurgents armed by Muammar Gaddafi and his terror regime. They infiltrated the territory via neighbouring Algeria. Their object was to topple the Tunisian government led by Habib Bourguiba.”

Sami was left with a number of physical injuries after his ordeal. He was exempted from joining the army himself due to infirmity and began receiving psychological support. He was left with shattered 2st, 2^nd and 3^rd tarsels and shattered 1^st, 2^nd and 3rd metatarsals. He also has shattered cuneiforms. On healing all bones fused together forming ankylosis with a residual oedema (swelling caused by excess fluid) and he still has shrapnel in situ. Two toes are inept. Over the years Sami has had several surgical and banding interventions to treat chronic internal haemorrhoids and still suffers to this day.

The Gafsa incident as it came to be known and the continuing threat of Libyan involvement was the impetus for the United States to increase support to Tunisia supplying arms and military equipment. A Department of Defense team was despatched to carry out a survey but the cost was deemed very high as Tunisia was so lacking in weaponry therefore a series of loans were instigated worth millions of dollars, France too supplied arms… Foreign Military Financing for the year 2010 was estimated at $2.3 million http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/tunisia/assistance.htm

LINKS

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfo/problems/ptsd/posttraumaticstressdisorder.aspx

Freedom From Torture

http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad . She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Chargossians involved in years of protest at their island being used as an airbase

The other day on Twitter I suddenly received several tweets from “Rewilding Britain” hailing the merits of the Chagos Islands as a marine conservation site with links on protecting a “fragile ecosystem of coral reefs with a diversity of fish, turtles, birds and other wildlife.”

The atoll is approximately 1,970 nautical miles (3,650 km) east of the coast of Africa (at Tanzania), 967 nautical miles (1,790 km) south-southwest of the southern tip of India (at Kanyakumari) and 2,550 nautical miles (4,720 km) west-northwest of the west coast of Australia (at Cape Range National Park, Western Australia.

Sounds good doesn’t it, protecting the environment from the excesses of mankind… but something made me feel uncomfortable. I believe in conservation but my social media accounts are largely used for writing on human rights, socio-political issues related to the War On Terror and am not a high profile environmentalist so wasn’t sure why this group were targeting me in particular.

The accompanying video of the project looked impressive, pristine turquoise waters and the world’s larges living coral atol. I would have likely supported immediately had I not had a nagging thought about the 2,000 human inhabitants displaced from the Chagos Islands by the British government and the fight for those still living to return to their homeland. This was something I had tweeted about on occasions supporting their cause.

Owen Bowcott writing in the Guardian states,

“In 1965, three years before Mauritius attained independence, the UK decided to “detach” the Chagos Islands from the rest of its then Indian Ocean colony. The Mauritian government, supported by every country in Africa, claims this was in breach of UN general assembly resolution 1514, passed in 1960, which specifically banned the breakup of colonies prior to independence.

The Chagos archipelago was subsequently declared to be part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (Biot) from which, in 1971, the 1,500 islanders were deported. The largest island, Diego Garcia, was then leased to the US as an airbase. The lease is due to be renegotiated later this year.

Claims that Diego Garcia was used as a secret “black site” detention centre during CIA rendition operations after 2001 resurfaced this month after Abdel-Hakim Belhaj – a rebel military commander and opponent of Muammar Gaddafi arrested in Malaysia and forcibly returned to Libya with his then pregnant wife – reported that he had been held there”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/21/chagos-islands-diego-garcia-base-court-ruling

Today my attention was drawn by chance to another article on Diego Garcia in the Independent stating that the government must renegotiate with US over the use of the island for rendition flights. What is deeply concerning is that a House of Commons Foreign Affairs select committee found that “there was no ‘clear requirement’ on Washington to seek UK permission for highly sensitive activity including rendition or combat operations and the arrangements in place are ‘entirely informal'”.

MPs are now calling for more control over CIA use of this airbase and the foreign affairs committee state that there is “a strong moral case” for the UK to allow islanders to return to Diego Garcia. That however will be contested at a private hearing by a strong team of British and US lawyers. A sentence jumped out at me immediately in a Guardian article (21st April, 2014)

“it (Diego Garcia) is considered of such importance that the attorney general, Dominic Grieve QC, will appear to defend Britain’s declaration of a marine reserve around the archipelago”

So could this be why my Chagos tweeters were so pushy with their conservation project? When I raised the issue of the islanders “right to return” and relayed my personal experience of a visit to the Galapagos Islands where there was a balance between protecting wildlife and the needs of local residents, it was very clear humans did not fit into their equation for the region. (So why is there one rule for islanders and another for the US military establishment) stinks of double standards!

The right to return home and a controversial marine conservation project

So what exactly is based on Diego Garcia? Well we know the United States Navy operates a Naval Support Facility (NSF), a large naval ship and submarine support base, military air base, communications and space-tracking facility there. Bombing missions have been carried out over both Afghanistan and Iraq from the island. There is also an anchorage for pre-positioned military supplies for regional operations aboard Military Sealift Command ships in the lagoon. Drones may have been operated from this Diego Garcia also, currently the Cocos islands about 1,700 miles east of Diego Garcia are now being considered as a possible future base. (Eyes must be kept open for any future activity).

We also learned despite denials from Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that at least 2 rendition flights refuelled on the island in 2002 (an apology on this was later given by David Miliband). Human rights group Reprieve alleges that United States-operated ships moored outside the territorial waters of Diego Garcia were used to incarcerate and torture detainees.

The island also featured in the news recently as a possible intended flight destination for missing Malaysian flight MH370 with several theories mooted including hijack. The Daily Mail reported that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah had programmed the island into a home flight simulator, the airbase has a runway long enough to accomodate a Boeing 777.

Given what we know about highly militarized Diego Garcia it is not without the realms of possibility than someone may have wished to fly a plane into the base to destroy the buildings as happened with the twin towers on 9/11.

Returning to the conservation issue, Wikileaks highlighted in their cable disclosures that establishing a “marine reserve” would help prevent islanders (that had been referred to by some as “Man Fridays”) returning to their land, from fishing the waters and no doubt ensure that whatever activities were being carried out there, those doing so would remain undisturbed. The Mauritian government are challenging plans. looking to the rights of the islanders. For Britain to determine the future of the islands given the enforced nature of the Chagossians departure smacks of current day colonialism and extreme arrogance.

My concerns were further raised after contacting Clency Lebrasse long-time campaigner for the rights of Chagossians, in an article (link below) he writes in relation to the proposed marine project;

“I predicted that the area was being used as a mechanism to pre-empt the judicial action in Strasbourg.  Six months later I was vindicated when the release of the Wikileaks cables confirmed that the creation of the zone was being used to place ecologists in direct conflict with Chagossians and their supporters.

Earlier this year I brought to public attention the activities of a minority movement within the Chagossian community who were being misrepresented as the voice of the majority.  As I stated at the time, it would be wrong to deny the Diego Garcian Society (DGS) a role to play in determining the future of the Chagos Islands, but that their contribution should be assessed on the basis that they represent the smallest number of Chagossians.”

To add insult to injury, Chagossians have had to deal with the fact that 3 persons that oppose resettlement have been recognized in the honours list, the latest being Prof Charles Sheppard who received an OBE, see Honours list dismays exiled people of the Chagos Islands,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/honours-list/10903548/Honours-list-dismays-exiled-people-of-the-Chagos-Islands.html

It seems this is a key time for Chagossians and their supporters to raise further questions about Britain’s role in allowing the US to use the island. and for what purpose. As the contract is up for renewal in 2016 what is most important is that the islanders are given a fair hearing and every effort possible made to return them to their rightful land. I for one would support a conservation site but only if the right of return was facilitated and any marine project came after full discussion, approval and active involvement of Chagossians themselves!

Links

The UK Chagos Support Association

http://www.chagossupport.org.uk/background/history

Clency’s Blog, “Zoos fooling who”

http://clebrasse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/zoos-fooling-who.html

Abdul Hakim Belhaj torture case against UK rejected (alleges rendition flight refuelled at Diego Garcia)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25464362

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad . She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Bowe waiting for helicopter and walking to freedom

Earlier this week I covered the story of the lead up to American Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, prisoner of the Taliban being released after 5 years in captivity and the exchange of 5 Taliban prisoners, see the following link 

https://activist1.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/free-bowe-bergdahl-exchanged-for-5-taliban-a-determined-father-and-establishing-dialogue/

Now the Taliban have released a 17 minute video received by Conflict Analysis which claims to show the transfer. Bowe is seen waiting in a silver pick-up truck with red markings on the side and can be see rubbing his left eye as he is advised “don’t come back to Afghanistan.” Armed men wait on a hillside, one with what appears to be a rocket launcher, while others communicate by radio as a helicopter approaches an area of flat scrubland.

Bowe, clean shaven, wearing shalwar kameez, black and white checked shawl around his shoulders and carrying a small bag is escorted to the helicopter by men carrying a while flag. He is greeted by 3 men and searched before boarding his long awaited flight to freedom.

Images of the Taliban prisoners can also be seen on the video arriving in Qatar.

Video link

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad . She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Posters read “General, you are reminding us 1971” and “Allow international media to North Waziristan”

Islamabad, 24th May 2014, Pashtun students Council, Quaid e Azam University.

Islamabad held a Protest today against indiscriminate shelling by Army on innocent civilian residents. Army started huge operation on 21st June with aerial bombing by PAF jets and Gunship helicopters. The ongoing brutal operation in Mossaki, Degan and Machis camp which has forced thousand people to migrate from their houses and leaving hundreds of innocent children, women and other civilian killed by indiscriminate aerial bombing.

On this occasion, students and political workers shouted slogan against indiscriminate bombing of civilian population and asked judicial probe of these incidents. The students also condemned the brutality of Law enforcing agencies.

Progressive political workers from Awami Workers Party and National Students Federation (NSF) joined protest in solidarity. NSF Punjab General Secretary, Alia Amir Ali condemned the coldblooded killing of Waziristani civilians by those who claim to be our defenders and said that people of Waziristan and FATA in general are oppressed both by the Taliban and army.

The students from Waziristan also demanded judicial probe of the killing of the civilians and asked for immediate cease fire of army bombing of civilian population and lifting of curfew.

— at Islamabad Press Club

End

Messages emphasize “Stop Pakhtun Genocide” and “We want peace” and “My name is Khan, I am not a terrorist”

Oh General ! we were Slaughtered in Charsdaa

We were killed in Karachi

Were made IDPs in Swat and Bajawar

Our Elders were blasted n Women were disgraced

First their Dogs came after us

This time its the Master

Hey General! We did not see 1971

but We know what happened there

Oh General! Don’t force us to repeat 1971

We will yell, we shall overcome

History will be repeated by us.

Asad khan — at Islamabad Press Club

Slogans state “Army is for our security or ??????” and “F16 kills more than drones Waziristan”

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad . She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.

Mohmand Taliban media

Mohmand Agency Taliban have claimed responsibility for an IED blast which hit a Pakistan army convoy in the Pandiali region of Mohmand agency yesterday morning, killing 6 soldiers and wounding others. They also accepted responsibility for a further blast which hit the house of local Sahwa commander, Alam Sher, member of a peace committee in Wacha Jawara area of Utmanzai in Pindiali. Attacks were said to be in retaliation for air strikes on Waziristan to avenge the assasination of Tribal Muslims, “a few drops of blood will be taken back.”

Confusion continues to reign over who exactly was killed in North Waziristan air strikes by Pakistan jets and helicopter gunships. Calls from youth organisations for Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) to name all those who perished have not been answered. Some journalists wrote that the government were not consulted in this recent attack while others state strikes were with the approval of Nawaz Sharif government. There appears to be no accountability to the public.

Photos allegedly of bombed areas in Mir Ali, depict homes and shops reduced to rubble, one (below) shows person sat, head in hands, bags by their side in what is left of the market.

Mir Ali, photos alleged to show the aftermath of strikes on houses and market

23rd May 2014

Dawn media highlighted the alleged deaths of 5 Taliban commanders in the following statement,

“sources have confirmed that five key militant commanders were killed in airstrikes launched on Wednesday in North Waziristan.

Among those killed was also an Uzbek Commander named Abu Ahmad.

Sources said other local terrorists who were killed included ‘Commander Qanooni’ and 

Sabir, said to be a handler of suicide-bombers.

Others included Commander Gilamand and Commander Jihad Yaar, the sources added”

http://www.dawn.com/news/1108359/north-waziristan-offensive-not-full-scale-operation

Taliban commanders disputed the deaths, claiming it was ordinary civilians that took the brunt of the strikes.

Within a short time of posting this article, I was sent a video of Commander Jangrez (well armed along with two others) refuting media propaganda of him being killed. He was previously declared dead on April 13th 2014 by Pakistan Tribune. False announcement of Taliban deaths seems to be a regular occurance so few know what to believe. Journalists attempting to establish facts are often threatened and females subjected to crude sexual insults from some pro-army supporters in an attempt to intimidate.

Pakistan Tehreek -e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, Imran Khan who released a statement condemning attacks, continued to express his concerns to Twitter followers,

“governments callousness over fate of civilians in North Waziristan is shocking with no evacuation of civilians before aerial bombings & helicopter gunship attacks. Civilians getting killed in NWA or fleeing & becoming IDPs – from zakat givers to paupers- as present  2 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) neglected by government and in bad state”

In one video from North Waziristan, a resident says if this continues they will migrate to Afghanistan and will have nothing to do with Pakistan.

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology students, Abbottabad, called the military operation by Pakistan Army in North Waziristan ‘Genocide’.

Protesters showed their anger towards military displaying posters stating, “shame, shame, NaPak army is bleeding Waziristan, shame” whilst another read, “the fire you set to FATA will engulf your house too.”

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad . She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.