Pakistan's military disappear the "poet of Guantanamo"

On February 27th, I posted a piece mentioning the Afghan writer Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, "the poet of Guantanamo." Dost recently published a book entitled The Broken Shackles of Guantanamo about his three years in the notorious prison. The book has become a hit. Too much so for the Pakistani army which it roundly criticizes for illegally turned Dost over to the Americans in 2002. Only weeks after publishing the book, he was abducted by police as he returned from his local mosque. The courts have demanded the military produce him but they have not replied.

What began with operations to pick up al Qaeda suspects after 9/11 has become an all-out campaign against dissent. Hundreds of Pakistanis have been disappeared, none ever appearing before a court. Pakistan's military intelligence agencies have been greatly aided in their iniquitous activities by equipment, expertise and money provided by the Americans in return for co-operation against al Qaeda.

Collaboration with military thugs has backfired on the United States so often you think they might learn. And they don't pay the price alone. Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost has paid it twice over.