War crimes

Chief of the Australian Defence Force General Angus Campbell has offered an unconditional apology to the Afghans for war crimes in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016. The apology came after a four-year investigation by New South Wales (NSW) Judge Paul Brereton found credible information that suggested that Australian troops were involved in the killing of 39 unarmed Afghan civilians and prisoners. Independent analysts have reported similar breaches of code of ethics by American, British and French troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere. The 1968 My Lai massacre of unarmed civilians in Vietnam by American troops is the worst incident of violence where almost 504 unarmed civilians were killed by US troops.

Such unlawful acts of violence against unarmed citizens of other countries have been widely reported against American and British military personnel and other troops trained by them. Will the US military and those who collaborated with them ever apologise for killing thousands of unarmed Pakistanis in drone attacks in our country? Given US President-elect Biden’s commendable role in stopping the massacre and ethnic cleansing of Bosnia’s Muslims when he was a US senator, it is also expected that his administration will condemn human rights abuses in Indian-occupied Kashmir and Myanmar.

Ali Malik Tariq

Lahore