Violation of Civilians by the Army in Pakistan

mohammad shoukat
Apr 5, 2007

I am a senior at a high school in . 18 years old. Bruised, hurt, stressed, insecure in my own country. This is not to gain sympathy, but to voice my suppressed voice. Going to the with my exact details would probably cause me more trouble then I have already faced. This is not a lie, or a joke it shows that we the people of are treated like criminals within our borders by our own "muhafizes" our own "army".

I woke up today to a perfect day, I had been accepted at USC and was very excited. Since finals were approaching I found it fit to spend my time studying for my AP exams (equivalent to A levels). I had noticed suspicious activity outside my house, and was a bit distracted by this. On March 3rd, 2007 the DHA security and DHA authorities came to my house and demolished my entrance because of a supposed "violation" of the . What "violation" you may ask? The fact that my had taken security measures and put up security grills on the back of our house, which was open to a notorious area called the "Bhatta ", which bordered DHA (Defense Housing Authority). Yes this is the same DHA that people spend day and night to become a part of, the same one where everyday you see new phases being added, the same DHA which is run by our protectors our army.

This morning, the morning of the 22nd of March 2007, the DHA sent their people again to cut off our telephone, water, sewerage supplies. Why? Because we had delayed the inspection a Colonel had demanded since my father was out of town. My brother and I tried to stop them from creating a scene like they have done so many times. We protested and called our father, who had already talked to the people behind the engineering operation in DHA. However, these people did not agree to our requests to stop. They told us " this is not your house" and " we can do whatever we want", to which my brother and I resisted saying that this is against the and not right. These retired army officers now part of DHA security threatened to break our legs and "take care" of us, to which my brother and I resisted again.

Soon they called onto squads from around defense to come and arrest us for our , which was nothing more than a few harsh verbal exchanges. They came with sticks, two men help me from the back slapped me on my face and then kicked me in my testicles to bring me down, they then tried to force me into their vehicles but my mother came from inside screaming and wailing. My younger brother also resisted and they beat him with sticks and pushed him and my mother to the ground. They then beat my brother and mother up and tried to force us into their vehicles. Soon with the help of concerned neighbors and their my brother, mother and I found our way back into our house where we tried to call an ambulance. To our surprise they had disconnected our phone lines as well. My brother had to be rushed to the hospital due to internal bleeding. They then demanded to arrest us since we had fired at them, my question is fired what? I am 17 and my brother is 15, we don’t have weapons openly at hand. The bigger question is, would you violate and their mothers because of a water boaring and a security grill?

Is this what is left of my country, where my mother and young brothers are beaten because we resisted a wrongful allegation, and a delay in visit? Are we criminals, are we terrorists? I am a student going to one of the best schools in ; I have been accepted to the Ivy Leagues and am on the Debate Team. How am I supposed to represent this country in an international forum? What am I supposed to tell the foreigners who think so lowly of , after such an event I will agree with them. When I go debate for at Harvard, I will tell them that our army harasses us over a water boaring violation? Is this all that is left of this country, no political stability, no , and no life security? Are we worse then and ? Today you proved me wrong, the country I loved, the city I cherished, now after seeing my brother in the hospital all I can say is I wish you never were. Is there any for us, any security for us? Please help me, is there any way to voice this?

Thank You

A very hurt teenager