In the news:
With the George W Bush administration under pressure to close the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Pakistan is readying to step in to help its ally in the "war on the terror". Both Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates have suggested that Bush transfer Guantanamo's detainees to the United States, saying the facility is undercutting US foreign-policy efforts.
Should Bush not do so, it is likely that the joint military prison and interrogation camp will be closed by the Democrat-controlled Congress. Vice President Dick Cheney's office and the Justice Department oppose having Guantanamo prisoners moved to the US. The prison holds people suspected by the US of being al-Qaeda or Taliban operatives, as well as those no longer considered suspects who are being held pending relocation.
The camp has drawn strong criticism both from within the US military and worldwide for its extrajudicial detention of captives and acknowledgment that the interrogation rules there opened the possibility that captives were being tortured.
A top Pakistani official told Asia Times Online that a special facility has already been built in the city of Faisalabad, adjacent to Faisalabad Central Prison. Another such facility is under construction in Multan and is expected to be completed within the next few months.
Work on a detention center adjacent to Adyala Jail in Rawalpindi, the capital Islamabad's twin city, has just started. These facilities are being funded by the US and will fall under the jurisdiction of Pakistan's Ministry of Interior. Special staff will be deputed to the centers to work in conjunction with US officials. Similar facilities will be established in Afghanistan, Egypt and other countries sympathetic to the "war on terror". Last week, the Associated Press reported that the US is helping to expand a prison in Afghanistan to take some detainees from Guantanamo.
The report said a high-security wing is being built at the Pul-e-Charki prison complex near the capital Kabul. It will be capable of holding up to 660 people, Afghan officials were reported as saying.
1 comment:
Now we're paying for other countries known for torture to keep our prisoners. I guess that way the US can say they don't torture but let others do it for us. This stupid plan wont work. These countries will ask for more and more money for this job. Pakistan is about to have it's own civil war and most of the prisoners break out of jail.
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