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Pakistani Newspaper: No Pakistanis In Guantanamo
By IOL Pakistan correspondent, Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD, Jan. 30 (IslamOnline) - There are no Pakistanis among the Al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners held by the United States at its naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, Pakistani daily newspaper, Dawn, reported Tuesday, quoting unnamed U.S. officials.
The nationalities of those detained at the camp have not been publicly disclosed, but U.S. officials have said the countries to which the prisoners belong have been informed of their presence. Pakistani diplomatic sources in Washington say they have not heard of any Pakistani nationals being held at Guantanamo. Most of the prisoners are said to be Arabs, with a few Afghans.
Saudi Arabia says around 100 of the 158 are its citizens, and Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Nayef, has said his country demands that they should be subject to the Kingdom's laws. There are also three British citizens among the prisoners in Guantanamo.
The U.S. categorically stated Monday that the detainees, who are classified as "unlawful combatants," would not be given the status of prisoners of war as defined in the Geneva Conventions. However, how this decision is to be given legal cover remains an open question.
The distinction between a PoW and “unlawful combatant” is significant because under the Geneva Conventions, written after World War II, a PoW has certain legal rights that would govern the U.S. military's interrogation of the detainees and would require that they be released when hostilities in Afghanistan are over.
Earlier this week, U.S. Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that the captives from the war in Afghanistan were "terrorists" who did not even deserve to be considered prisoners of war.
Vexation about the U.S. treatment of Afghan PoWs has been raised by photographs showing a group of the prisoners kneeling, handcuffed and wearing dark goggles, earmuffs, mittens and bright orange jumpsuits.
Several European countries, including Switzerland, voiced their criticism last week of the conditions of the Afghan detainees in the U.S. Guantanamo base in Cuba, saying they must be considered prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.
European Union Commissioner, Chris Patten, voiced concern Wednesday, January 23. "We seem to have won the military campaign in Afghanistan," Patten said, "but having won the campaign, I think it would be a huge error if the international coalition was to lose the peace."
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