Hi AM,
First off, lets clarify that I did not link Kashmir to this, Kashmir came into the mix only to prove that if a documentry like this can be doctored, then the hundreds of "documentries" that are floating around about brutality in Kashmir by Indians which are presented as "factual evidence" can also be part of the same propoganda technique.....You cant be selective to suit your opinion.....
One can be selective since most documentaries on Kashmir tend be about the oppression and abuse inflicted by IA soldiers and paramilitaries/police on the Kashmiris, all of whom tend to be in uniform or in many cases easily distinguishable by appearance from the locals (soldiers or paramilitaries from India instead of Kashmir) - so you have direct eyewitness and victim accounts of such brutality, not opinion and anecdotes.
In addition, these accounts have been consistent over the decades and are also largely validated by international human rights organizations like Amnesty HRW etc.
This particular issue, of ISI involvement in Afghanistan, is completely different, since the ISI would be at pains to not have any physical or traceable presence in Afghanistan, lest the Americans get wind of it - so eyewitness accounts have little credibility, since there really is nothing to witness linking the ISI to the Taliban currently. And yes, Indian support for Baluch rebels falls into a similar category of 'hard to prove'.
Asking me what actual eveidence did the documentry provide linking ISI to the Taliban is similar to asking what evidence does Pakistan have regarding RAW's involvement in Balouchistan.....the answer is, there is none.....
Sticking to the topic of ISI support for the Taliban for now, you admit then that the documentary does not offer any evidence to back up the allegation that the ISI is supporting the Taliban?
However the questions I raised were based on the interviews of 3 afghans, one of whom was an Ex-Taliban guy who was close to the kidnappers who says that the order to re-kidnapp Ajmal and behead him came directly from Pakistan......My argument is based on this statement....
'The order came from Pakistan' - that could be anyone in Pakistan, an Afghan Taliban commander secretly seeking refuge there, a Pakistani Taliban commander, someone from Al Qaeda in Pakistan, or someone from another militant group altogether. That statement on its own, without evidence to back it up, is nothing but the documentary maker sensationalizing pure opinion without substantiation in order to demonize the handy bogeyman in the form of the ISI.
now as Develpro mentioned, documentries can be doctored to a certain extent......but based on the limited information presented this is what can be taken from here......
Did the narrator accompany the statements by these Afghans with the caveat that none of them could be independently verified?
If not then it seems opinions and anecdotes are being presented as facts to tarnish Pakistan and the ISI, and I would conclude that this documentary is heavily propagandist, or just a plain bad piece of work, lacking objectivity.
I dont want to point fingers, but I just want to know from the Pakistani members.....what do they feel if actual evidence of ISI-Taliban links surface......what is their opinion on this?
How would you feel if evidence emerged that the US had kidnapped Martians on a visit to Earth?
How would you feel if evidence emerged that Indian Army officers upto the COAS were found to be running a child sex ring?
You are asking for opinions based on an allegation that is currently backed by little to no evidence, like the one above.
Lets not indulge in useless speculation.
If there is nothing more to add in terms of evidence in the documentary backing the allegations against the ISI, then I'll close this thread.
