ISLAMABAD, Aug 18 The military has rejected as baseless allegations made by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its latest report against security forces about its involvement in extra-judicial killings and human rights abuses in Malakand.

Speaking in DawnNews programme 'NewsEye', ISPR director-general Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said that the army had a strong chain of command and behaved in a responsible manner.

“It can never respond to terror with terror and has to conduct in a professional and legal way,” he said.

In the same programme, HRCP Chairperson Asma Jehangir said that the commission had documented accounts of “extra-judicial killings” by security forces and the “mass graves” found in the Swat valley where the army was battling the Taliban.

Gen Abbas claimed the militants had themselves buried their associates killed in clashes in mass graves and the army had nothing to do with it.

He pointed out that the army itself had been reporting discovery of mass graves during the operation Rahe-Raast.

When asked why would the Taliban bury their men in mass graves, he said they had been doing so because they were in a hurry while retreating.

He said there might be some conspiracy and an element of revenge behind it.

He said the security forces had around 900 prisoners which were being handed over to various agencies.

About the allegations of throwing suspected militants out of helicopters and dragging relatives of suspected terrorists in the public, he said the army never indulged in such actions.

He said the army was ready for full-scale investigations in the presence of independent journalists who he said would be provided full security.

Ms Jehangir said a number of Swat residents had reported “sighting mass graves in the area”, including at least one in Kookarai village in Babozai tehsil and another in an area between Dewlai and Shah Dheri in Kabal tehsil.

She said that the allegations were too serious to be investigated by an independent body.