Commentary by Nawab Khan in Brussels in the "Perspective" column: "Hypocrisy Exposed" 
	
	
 The so-called US-led campaign against terrorism is inspiring opportunistic attacks on civil liberties around the world, 'Human Rights Watch' warned in its annual global survey released recently. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the US gained worldwide sympathy and support which, however, evaporated quickly due to America's gross violations of international norms of behaviour. America is arresting foreign nationals in a foreign country (Afghanistan) locking them up in cages in another foreign country (Cuba) and all this without any international legitimacy. It is also continuing its bombings in Afghanistan although there is an interim government in place there now. The US is indeed setting a terrific example of how to violate international laws and human rights. The Human Rights Watch report said "Imagine the US condemning military tribunals set up by a tin-pot tyrant to get rid of his political enemies. That kind of criticism can have real sting. But, now it will ring with hypocrisy." In the US and western Europe, measures designed to combat terrorism are threatening long-held human rights principles. "Terrorists believe that anything goes in the name of their cause", said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. "The fight against terror must not buy into that logic. Human rights principles must not be compromised in the name of any cause." The anti-terrorism drive will not succeed if it is conducted merely as a struggle against a particularly ruthless set of criminals, Roth said. To defeat, the fundamental amorality of terrorism requires a firm grounding in international human rights. The willingness of most western governments to tolerate abuses by friendly governments in the Middle East and North Africa has tended to undermine the growth of a human rights culture there. The problem includes the West's failure to rein in Israeli abuses against Palestinians, its apparent disregard for grave civilian suffering caused by sanctions against Iraq; and its complete unwillingness to raise human rights issues with friendly governments in the Arab world.