New York, March 27 (IANS) Human Rights Watch, a US-based advocacy group, on Friday termed the recent Pakistani airstrikes on a rehabilitation centre in Kabul as “an unlawful attack” and warned that the incident could amount to a possible war crime, raising serious concerns over civilian safety and adherence to international law.
On March 16, Pakistan launched airstrikes on the 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul that killed hundreds of civilians and injured several others.
The rights body called on the Pakistani authorities to conduct a swift and impartial investigation into the incident and ensure accountability for those responsible.
“The available evidence indicates that the Pakistani airstrike against a well-known Kabul medical facility, killing dozens of patients, was unlawful. Pakistani authorities need to carry out an impartial investigation to determine why it hit a drug treatment centre filled with civilians and who should be held to account,” said Patricia Gossman, senior associate Asia director at HRW.
Citing an employee at the facility, the HRW said that over 1,000 patients were at the rehabilitation centre in Kabul at the time of the attack, but the actual number is uncertain. The rights body added that an official with an international agency said that many patients were in the dining area to break the Ramadan fast.
The United Nations highlighted the “complete destruction of one block that housed adolescents receiving drug treatment”.
On March 17, Pakistan’s federal minister of information and broadcasting, Attaullah Tarar, posted on X, stating that Pakistan had carried out “precision airstrikes” on “technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities,” but did not mention the Omid facility.
The HRW said that based on available information, there was no evidence that the Omid centre was being used for military purposes, making the attack “unlawfully indiscriminate”.
“In any case, the attack would appear to violate the prohibition against disproportionate attacks. Serious violations of the laws of war committed with criminal intent—that is, deliberately or recklessly—are war crimes,” it noted.
Pakistan, the rights body said, has an obligation under international law to investigate alleged “war crimes by its forces and bring those responsible for serious abuses to account. ”
Amid the escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the HRW cited the UN figures documenting at least 76 civilian deaths and 213 injuries from Pakistani airstrikes across Afghanistan.
“Concerned countries should press Pakistan to provide genuine accountability and ensure that failures in intelligence, target verification, and decision-making are identified and fixed so such strikes never happen again,” Gossman said.
–IANS
scor/rs