October 27, 2011, Islamabad
Tribal elders of Waziristan to hold Waziristan Grand Jirga with International community for transparency and full inquiry into American violation of Pakistan sovereignty and killing of thousands in Waziristan drone attacks.
British Charity Reprieve and Pakistan’s Foundation for Fundamental Rights is organizing the Waziristan Grand Jirga on Friday, October 28, 2011), which will be held at Margalla Hotel, starting at 09:00am, to open an international dialogue concerning the American use of drones in Pakistan sovereign territory. A vast number of Tribal elders and victim families from North Waziristan will participate in the Jirga. Amongst others, Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf will also participate in Jirga. The other participants will include international human rights lawyers, activists, artists, civil society and political parties.
After the Jirga, tribal elders, victim families of drone attacks in Pakistan, international community including lawyers and human right activists along with thousands of Pakistani citizens will join in anti drone protest rally at the D-Chowk in front of Parliament, which has passed a resolution against drone strikes but has failed to address the issue further then that. Pakistan Tehrik Insaf plans to strengthen the anti drone rally with presence of a large number of their party workers.
The United States has drones constantly flying over Pakistan, piloted by CIA operatives 8,000 miles away, so far killing over 2000 people in over 300 drone strikes. The machines carry lethal payloads that are periodically unleashed on Pakistan, in violation of the laws of war and of Pakistan national sovereignty. The CIA has recently insisted that no “non-militant” has been killed in these assaults in over a year; residents of Waziristan and the FATA strongly contest this assertion, noting that women and children are among the victims. Reprieve and FFR’s aim here is to bring accountability to the process and seek justice for the victims, as injustice will continue the cycle of violence.
Although it is well known that the drones carry cameras, so that a film exists of every attack, the CIA vigorously resists an open, transparent evaluation of the rules that govern missile strikes, as well as of the consequences of each one.
At the Jirga, Human Rights groups will join local residents to insist on this transparency, so that the world may make an informed judgment on the efficacy of the war that is being waged on sovereign territory by the intelligence service of a foreign nation. Human Rights groups will work with local residents to ensure that the truth – whatever it may be – emerges from Waziristan and the FATA. This programme will include the dissemination of “Transparency Cameras” across the region that will record in real time the actual impact of drone missile strikes, as well as the psychological effects on innocent villagers of drones circling their homes for hours on end prior to any attack. The objective of this programme is to get the information about the strikes out there to larger public.
Mirza Shahzad Akbar, director of the Foundation for Fundamental Rights (FFR) said: “We are working to help empower those who have no ability to protect themselves and their families from these missiles. The dramatic recent increase in prescriptions for anti-depressive medicines for residents of Waziristan is just one stark indicator of the daily toll of these deadly American machines that circle menacingly overhead. It is our duty to ensure that the truth is told.”
Reprieve’s director Clive Stafford Smith OBE said: “We are interested solely in transparency, with an open and honest dialogue. The CIA cannot conduct what is patently an illegal war in Waziristan while simultaneously covering up any evidence of the deaths of children and other innocent civilians who are being killed on a regular basis. If they really believe what they are doing is right, then they should not fear the truth. If they do fear the truth, then it is certain that what that what they are doing is wrong.”
For more information please contact Mirza Shahzad Akbar on Shahzad@rightsadvocacy.org, or 0312-5055971
Or Katherine O’Shea at Reprieve’s Press Office katherine.oshea@reprieve.org.uk +44 (0)20 7427 1099/ (0)7931592674.
Notes for Editors:
Reprieve, a legal action charity, uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantánamo Bay. Reprieve investigates, litigates and educates, working on the frontline, to provide legal support to prisoners unable to pay for it themselves. Reprieve promotes the rule of law around the world, securing each person’s right to a fair trial and saving lives. Clive Stafford Smith is the founder of Reprieve and has spent 25 years working on behalf of people facing the death penalty in the USA. Reprieve has represented, and continues to represent, a large number of prisoners who have been rendered and abused around the world, and is conducting ongoing investigations into the rendition and the secret detention of ‘ghost prisoners’ in the ‘war of terror.’
The Foundation for Fundamental Rights (FFR) is an NGO based in Islamabad, devoted to providing free legal representation to those victimised by the ‘war of terror’.
Reprieve
PO Box 52742
London EC4P 4WS
Tel: 020 7353 4640
Fax: 020 7353 4641
Email: info@reprieve.org.uk
Website: www.reprieve.org.uk
in Islamabad, Pakistan. Get in touch for more details.
The Foundation for Fundamental Rights is an organization working towards the advancement, protection and enforcement of fundamental human rights in Pakistan.
