In its appeal to the US government, Amnesty International asked it to “clarify the chain of command and rules of engagement governing the use of drones in Pakistan”. -Photo by Reuters

In the same report, the world's leading rights group also urged the Pakistani Taliban and their allied armed groups to publicly acknowledge their obligations to comply fully with international humanitarian law.

All Taliban groups must “make a public commitment to respect the rights recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and under international human rights treaties and customary international law”.

In its appeal to the US government, Amnesty International asked it to “undertake proper monitoring of the impact of drone attacks on the civilian population, and clarify the chain of command and rules of engagement governing the use of drones in Pakistan”.

The rights group urged the United States to “investigate, discipline or prosecute, in a credible and transparent manner any officials found guilty of violating international humanitarian law or rules of engagement in conducting drone strikes”.

Amnesty International demanded that the US should “apply, without waivers”, the 'Leahy Law' provisions of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act and the Defence Appropriations Act, which call for “closely monitoring the conduct of military units in countries receiving US military aid to see if they have committed gross violations of human rights”.

This would require the US to ensure that the Pakistani government has taken effective measures to provide accountability for such violations.

In its appeal to the Taliban, Amnesty International urged the militants to “Publicly condemn, from the highest level of leadership, all attacks directed at civilians, and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks; use of human shields, abduction, hostage-taking, unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment.”

It asked the militant group also to issue instructions to its members to strictly prohibit such acts in all circumstances.

AI urged the Taliban to “publicly denounce gender-based violence, whenever and wherever it occurs”.

This report is based on over 300 interviews conducted by Amnesty International beginning in the second half of 2008, through 2009, and up to May 2010. The majority of the interviews were conducted with people living in five of Fata's seven agencies Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram, South Waziristan and Mohmand, as well as in Malakand division.

Amnesty International in particular urged the government of Pakistan to ensure that all state security forces operating in these areas were “adequately trained, equipped, and disciplined to comply with their obligations under international human rights law and humanitarian law for protecting the rights of the people of Pakistan, not simply combat duty”.