Amnesty International
October 2013
Index: ASA 33/013/2013
“We were all in a panic that night. Everyone was running for a safe place. In fact, people
had already made bunkers in their homes [because of previous shelling], but that night some of us
couldn’t reach the bunkers in time.” Darpa Khel residents said more than 10 houses were seriously
damaged in the shelling.
Amnesty International found little evidence that government forces gave adequate pre-attack
warnings to the population in this and other previously documented incidents.
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Once government
forces attacked, they often failed to target armed group fighters and military objectives with
necessary precision. Instead, they used inappropriate, imprecise weapons such as mortars, artillery
and unguided, air-dropped bombs on areas where insurgents were believed to be intermingled
with civilians. Given the physical harm to civilians and mass displacement that these military
operations caused, the attacks were not only indiscriminate but also appear to have been
disproportionate, and therefore unlawful.
CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE: RESIDENTS OF NORTH WAZIRISTAN
TRAPPED AS PAKISTAN FORCES CLASH WITH ARMED GROUPS
“Our routine life is affected as curfew is imposed every Sunday,” explained Gulab Khan of Mir Ali town. “Our
children and even grown-ups remain in constant tension and distress, as if something happens during the curfew
then you have to face the music in the shape of mortar shelling from the [Pakistan Army] cantonments and from
the [Pakistan military] helicopters.”
Pakistani forces often fire mortars after their convoys are attacked by the Pakistani Taliban or other armed groups,
using roadside IEDs, a weekly occurrence in North Waziristan. Such an incident occurred during a curfew on 30
June 2013. “Last Sunday, around 3-4pm, a remote control blast killed four security personnel in [a] convoy on the
main Bannu-Miran Shah road [1.2 miles northwest of Ghundi Kala],” recalled Rafeequl Rehman, son of drone strike
victim Mamana Bibi. “Through the PA [Political Agent], the Army announced that all people have to vacate our
village of Tappi.”
According to Rehman and other Tappi residents, this is a regular occurrence; PA staff call residents, usually the
elder males, by phone and tell them to vacate. “Hundreds of people have to make their own way to nearby villages,”
said Nisam Khan, a local journalist. “At 10pm the PA authorities called and said everyone must leave [the village]
‘til 4am. Everyone.” Then, just before 4am, the Army fired flares into the air and at exactly 4am started firing mortar
shells towards Tappi village.
“Three shells were fired, one exploded in the air and two exploded in the village, but luckily this time it only caused
minor damage,” said Rafeequl Rehman. But, he added, “As far as I know, no one has got compensation for
[damage due to] mortar shells. The Army decides when there will be no more mortars to be fired and then people
can come back. They don’t tell us, but speak to the PA who [then] tells our elders who tell our families they can now
return. We are scared that at any time there could be a blast [from an armed group] and then the Army will fire
mortars without caring who they hit.