Hood's appointment
Guantanamo Bay is a place where prisoners have no right of appeal
against the punishment meted out to them. It is a place where the
investigators are all American soldiers, even defence attorneys;
prosecutors and judges are all soldiers. In short it is like a jungle
and the American army is the king of this jungle.
It is a prison
full of unimaginable stories. The jail has standard six-by-six rooms
whose walls, door, floor, toilet, washbasin and so on are all made of
steel. The rooms have no windows to let in sunlight or fresh air. In
short, it is an iron grave and hundreds of Muslims are kept there and
leading a
life worse than death. Even today there are about 65
Pakistani prisoners living at the edge of life in miserable conditions.
One
inmate by the name of Shafiq Rasool has said that inmates are not even
allowed to attend to call of nature and many times they would have to
relieve themselves in their clothes. Besides, there have been many
instances where Islam and the Holy Quran have been insulted by the
American soldiers. He has also said that if inmates tried to recite the
Holy Quran in a loud voice then his mouth would be taped. One Pakistani
businessman by the name of Saud Memon was kept at Guantanamo Bay for a
long time and badly tortured. When it was realized that he was near
death, he was sent off to Pakistan – and he died soon after returning
to his home.
In addition to this, it has been reported in a
recent investigative book on the prison that one female member of the
jail staff actually cleaned her menstruation blood with a prisoner's
dress in order to disable that man from offering his prayers. In this
context, the recent posting to Pakistan of Major-General J W Hood to
Pakistan as the US army's representative at the American Embassy in
Islamabad is an insult to all Pakistanis. General Hood was in charge of
Guantanamo
Bay at the same time its Muslim prisoners were tortured and the Holy Quran desecrated. He
was heavily criticized in the American press for the inhuman torture that took place during
his time there and much of
this criticism appeared in such respectable and mainstream publications as the Washington Post.
After
such reports in the American press, investigations by the Pentagon
revealed that at least five incidents of desecrating the Holy Quran
occurred during the tenure of General Hood at Guantanamo Bay. In his
defence, he said that these incidents were all unintentional. When
criticism of his appointment to Pakistan followed the report of his
posting, the US explained it all by saying that the general's posting
to Islamabad had nothing to do with his service at Guantanamo Bay. In
fact, it said, that his appointment reflect the level of cooperation
between the two countries because he was a senior officer of the US
army.
It is sad for Pakistan that America has nominated such a
controversial person as its defence representative, one whose uniform
is stained with the blood of Muslims. Under international law, Pakistan
has the right to refuse the appointment of such a controversial person.
Now that the new democratic government has come into office, perhaps
Islamabad should request Washington to review its decision and in fact
should tell it that it will not accept General Hood. We may not have
been able to stop General Hood from desecrating the Holy Quran but we
can at least stop him from coming to our country.
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