November 03, 2006	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: Pakistan has rejected the demand of the Human Rights Watch seeking an independent investigation into the aerial bombing of a religious school in Bajaur Agency.

“The facts are clear and there is no need for an independent investigation,” Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Senator Tariq Azim told Dawn here on Thursday.

He rejected the claims that there were children below the age of seven in the school bombed by the military and pointed out that combat shoes were recovered from the building. He said: “Children below seven do not wear combat shoes.”

He said all the schools in the area were closed till November 9 and asked as to why this particular religious school was open with masked men guarding the building who did not allow anybody to go inside.

He said there was concrete evidence available that martial arts training was being imparted to the students of the seminary. He asked: “If it was a normal school, then why was the training not being given during the daytime?”

He said various warnings had been issued to Maulana Liaquat before the strike.

He brushed aside the impression that the strike was carried out by fixed-wing US drones which fired hellfire missiles. He claimed the operation had been carried out by the Pakistan military.

He claimed that those killed were all militants.

The Human Rights Watch had said the Pakistani government must allow an independent investigation into the aerial bombing of the religious school in Bajaur Agency, which is in the country’s tribal areas.

The October 30 attack in the town of Khar killed 82 people, including several children, though a military spokesman claimed the dead were all militants and denied any “collateral damage”.

Pakistani authorities claimed that the seminary was being used as a training camp for Taliban and Al Qaeda militants and that they had issued a warning before striking. However, local residents said that only students were present in the seminary and that they received no warning.

“The Pakistani government should allow independent investigators into the area to determine who carried out the attack, how it was planned and executed, and who was killed,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch.