Pakistan Forces Accused of Killing Unarmed Man

Posted June 9th, 2011 at 10:20 am (UTC-5)
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Hundreds of people attended the funeral in Karachi on Thursday of a young man whose killing by Pakistani paramilitary forces was recorded and aired on local television.

Sarfaraz Shah was killed Wednesday in a park in the southern Pakistani port city.

A video of his death, which was posted on the video website YouTube, shows him pleading for his life before being shot in the hand and leg, at close range, by soldiers. It then shows Shah falling to the ground and begging for help, before bleeding to death.

Paramilitary officials say Shah was armed and was attempting to rob people at the park where his killing took place.

Shah's brother, a local crime reporter, says he was not a criminal and was wrongly accused.

Authorities are investigating the incident, which was condemned by human rights activists and members of Pakistan's parliament. Reports say at least two soldiers have been detained in connection with the shooting.

Last month, security forces shot and killed of five unarmed Chechens, including a pregnant woman, at a checkpoint near Quetta, the capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan. Officials initially said they were suicide bombers.

Last week, Amnesty International urged Pakistan's government to take urgent steps to end killings and abductions in Baluchistan after a professor, Saba Dashtiyari, was shot and killed by gunmen in Quetta.

While no one has claimed responsibility for Dashtiyari's death, Amnesty said groups in Baluchistan have accused Pakistani security forces of carrying out the killing. The rights group says more than 150 political activists, journalists, lawyers and student have been killed in Baluchistan in the past year.