CIA & ISI detention facilities in Karachi

Pakistani spy agency ISI’s detention facilities in Karachi and elsewhere were used as an initial detention and interrogation point by the CIA during America’s war on Al Qaeda which was supported by over 50 countries following 9/11 attacks, a new report has claimed.

A Washington-based rights advocacy group, Open Society Justice Initiative, reported that Pakistan “captured, detained, interrogated, tortured, and abused” hundreds of individuals for the CIA.

The report documents participation of 54 foreign governments in CIA’s operations against terrorists and was first published by The New York Times on Tuesday and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s daughter Amrit Singh is one of the principal writers of the report.

The chapter on Pakistan shows that the country also permitted its airspace and airports to be used for flights associated with CIA’s operations.

A 2010 UN report observed that from December 2001 until the summer of 2002, Pakistan operated a secret detention programme under which detainees were initially detained in Pakistan before being transferred to Afghanistan and/or to Guantanamo Bay.

Former President Pervez Musharraf acknowledged capturing 672 alleged Al Qaeda members and handing over 369 of them to the United States.

According to Amnesty International, “most of the known victims of rendition were initially detained in Pakistan.”

It said detention facilities in Pakistan in which detainees were held at the behest of the CIA include the ISI detention facility in Karachi, which was allegedly used as an initial detention and interrogation point before detainees were transferred to other prisons.

Although controlled by the ISI, detainees at the facility claim to have been interviewed by both US and British intelligence officials.

The report ‘Globalising Torture — CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition’ released on Wednesday by rights advocacy group Open Society Justice Initiative details the involvement of 54 nations in the American campaign against Al Qaeda and identifies 136 people who had been held or transferred by the CIA, describing when and where they were held.