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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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a new low for humanity. shooting unarmed person point blank. SCUM
Sadly this is nothing new. I remember the brutal suppression of the protests in Iran 2 yrs ago where an unarmed woman named Neda Agha Soltan was shot dead, another event which was caught on camera.
I watched the edited version but couldn’t bring myself to watch the unedited version. it was so disturbing, you can see the fear in his eyes. I’m actually stuck for words
I watched the video , very disturbing , only 18. RIP
I watched the video. Sick!
Only last week Miami police shot dead an unarmed man and then grabbed camera phones from witnesses and smashed them on the ground. One couple ran to their car only to find themselves surrounded by cops who put cocked weapons to their faces and threatened to kill them unless they handed over their phones. The guy had taken the memory card out and managed to give it to a local media outlet later.
A couple of years ago Detroit cops beat the shit out of a gay guy for no reason, the cops watching on CCTV turned the cameras away to stop it from being recorded but turned back too soon and captured it, both cops involved were fired – after a year – during which they were on paid suspension.
Cops on a small island nation were discovered to have planted explosives in someone’s home to frame them. On that same island an off-duty cop beat the crap out of a guy who said his brother’s tee shirt was ‘gay’, left him with a swollen brain …oh wait, that’s Ireland.
Soylent, this is a shocking….
So what’s the point?
Saying about them ‘ animals’ would be great insult to these fine creatures. I am actually stuck for appropriate word for this scum.
Unbelievable…..stuck for words
TRIGGER HAPPY PIGS EXIST IN AMERICA TOO SO DONT PRETEND TO BE TOO SHOCKED AND DONT KID YOURSELF INTO BELIEVING IT HAPPENS ONLY IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES
I never like to watch someone being shot on footage….once you see it, you couldn’t take it off your mind especially in night dream……
I really wish I hadn’t watched that……….a blast of reality but heartbreaking!
Hope they all go to hell. Tough guys with guns…..these vile degenerates make me sick.
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