PAKISTAN’S SECURITY FORCES are being heavily criticised after troops were caught on camera apparently shooting a boy dead at point-blank range earlier this week.
The footage, captured by a cameraman from Pakistan’s Awaz television channel, shows a youth identified as Sarfaraz Shah arguing with parliamentary rangers in Karachi.
The 18-year-old is manhandled by the men before he appears to plead for mercy. He is then shot at close quarters and later bleeds to death, according to The Guardian.
A full, unedited and extremely graphic video of the shooting can be watched here, via Reuters (viewer discretion is advised)
Watch an edited version via Al Jazeera:
The killing has been widely condemned and further undermined Pakistani security forces, already under pressure for allegations that they concealed the location of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, killed in a US raid on a compound in Pakistan last month.
The commander of the parliamentary rangers force condemned the action as “deplorable”.
The country’s prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said an inquiry would be launched with six members of the parliamentary rangers already arrested.
It comes as a second day of talks between CIA director Leon Panetta and senior Pakistani officials aims to focus on the size and scope of US intelligence activities in Pakistan.
Both countries are working to repair ties fractured by the American raid that killed bin Laden. The US also needs Pakistan’s help to help promote and guide negotiations with the Taliban that can help end the decade-long Afghan war.
In an attempt to rebuild their relationship, Washington and Islamabad have agreed to form a joint intelligence team to track down militant targets inside Pakistan, drawing in part from the trove of records taken from bin Laden’s personal office during the raid.
Panetta and Pakistani officials planned to discuss what US intelligence officers will be permitted to do, and how many will be allowed into the country, as part of the team, said a Pakistani official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
It is outgoing CIA director Panetta’s first visit is his first to Pakistan since the covert US Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden in a Pakistani army town not far from the capital on 2 May.
- additional reporting from AP
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