Skopje admits terrorism frame-up |
Associated Press LAHORE, Pakistan -- Relatives said yesterday they will seek legal damages after Macedonia admitted that its police framed and executed six Pakistani immigrants to boost the Balkan country's profile in the U.S.-led effort against terrorism.The men, aged between 22 and 29, were gunned down in March 2002 outside Skopje, Macedonia's capital. They had been accused of ambushing a police patrol and plotting attacks on foreign embassies in Macedonia. Ansar Burney, a lawyer and head of the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International, a civil rights group that has campaigned on behalf of the victims' families, said he was preparing to file a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. "We will sue the government for $12 million" -- $2 million per family, he said by e-mail from London, where he is based. Macedonian police said seven Pakistanis were killed, but Mr. Burney said one of the victims was Indian. He said police killed them in a fake encounter outside the U.S. Embassy in Skopje and made out that they were terrorists, trained in Pakistani camps and planning to strike American and European interests. "They were just economic migrants passing through Macedonia illegally to reach some European country to earn money for their poor families," Mr. Burney said. Macedonian police have accused the country's former interior minister, Ljube Boskovski, of ordering the executions and also implicated three top associates, as well as a businessman and two police commandos. The charges are a first step in a legal process likely to lead to an official indictment and a trial. If found guilty, they could face life in prison. Pakistan's government praised Macedonia for revealing the "diabolical plot" and starting legal action. "This crime is even more shocking and heinous because these murders were pre-planned and were committed to spruce up Macedonia's image as an ally in the war against terrorism," Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said. He added that Pakistan's ambassador was in touch with authorities in Skopje, and that the government would "make all efforts to seek full justice for these innocent victims." He did not elaborate. Mr. Burney appealed to European countries and the United States "to see what is happening with innocent people in the name of the war against terrorism." Since breaking away from Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia has been eager to win American political and economic support. It has supported the U.S.-led campaign against al Qaeda and has sent troops to Iraq Press Back on your browser to Return
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