"When I saw people putting the dead bodies of my children, parents, and other relatives in bed I couldn't bear it anymore and fell on the ground. I lost my sense…as if hell fell on me."

This shocking testimony comes from a 25-year old Pakistani man who lost nine family members when two shells, fired by Pakistani security forces, hit his house. 

Far from an isolated incident, the civilian killings took place in the alarmingly violent and lawless tribal areas of northwest Pakistan. 

The residents in these regions are subject to horrific abuses by the Pakistani Taliban and have no legal protection by the Pakistani government. Most disturbing is the fact that they are increasingly attacked on three different fronts - by the Taliban, by the Pakistani army and by U.S. drone strikes.

Yet the suffering of the people of this area has been ignored, sacrificed in the name of geopolitical interests.

Remote and mountainous, northwest Pakistan has become a dangerous place to collect research. At one time, little was known about the overall situation in region.

But we're using our new website, www.eyesonpakistan.org, to help both private citizens and policy makersgain access to these previously inaccessible conflict zones. Using state of the art mapping tools and in-depth research, the site provides concrete visual evidence of destruction and human rights abuse. 

We also launched a companion report, "As if Hell Fell on Me: The Human Rights Crisis in Northwest Pakistan,"¹ which documents the systemic abuses carried out by the Pakistani Taliban. The report is based on nearly 300 interviews with residents in this region, equally as tragic as the young man's account shared at the beginning of this message. 

And topping off our evidence is a report recently published by the UN which refers to US drone strikes as an "ill-defined license to kill without accountability".

We've got the proof. The pressure is building. Now all we need is for the U.S. government to draw a line and stand on the side of human rights.

Urge the U.S. government to uphold human rights in Pakistan.

In solidarity,

Christoph Koettl 
Crisis Campaigner 
Amnesty International USA

PS: Would you like to do more for human rights in Pakistan? Participate in our Eyes on Pakistan Writing Contest and win a Flip HD camera! 

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