British MPs demand probe into ‘outsourcing’ of torture to Pak

Labour Party lawmaker John McDonnell and Andrew Tyrie of the Conservative Party have called for investigation by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), the Parliamentary body that oversees the Security Service, MI5, and the Intelligence Service, MI6. “I believe that there is now sufficient evidence to demonstrate that British officials outsourced the torture of British nationals to a Pakistani intelligence agency,” McDonnell, representing Hayes and Harlington constituency, was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.

Tyrie, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition, said that any torture of British nationals by Pakistani authorities “would be utterly unacceptable”.

“If credible allegations implicating British officials in such mistreatment have been made then they require investigation. The ISC appears to be the most suitable body to examine these issues,” said Tyrie, the Conservative member for Chichester.

According to the report in the British daily, a second Briton, Tariq Mahmood, 35, of Birmingham, alleged he was abducted in Rawalpindi in October 2003 and released without charge about five months later.

International rights organisations have frequently accused the US and Britain of relying on Pakistani intelligence agencies in its counter-terrorism operations.

“It is pretty clear the US and the UK are relying rather heavily on the well-known abusive Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in the counter-terrorism operations,” Tom Porteous, London director of Human Rights Watch, told British lawmakers.

In April The Guardian reported that four other British men, who had been held in Pakistan during British-led counter-terrorism operations and detained illegally for several months, had each alleged that British officials colluded in their torture.