The first duty of any state is protecting the life and property of its citizens. The Pakistani state has consistently failed to do so in many parts of the country but especially in the northwest. Attacks on diplomatic convoys, abductions of polio workers and attacks on police personnel are just some examples.
As law and order deteriorates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the country’s leading human rights watchdog, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called upon the provincial government to “take urgent measures to tackle militancy and protect people’s right to life and security.”
In its statement the HRCP expressed concern over “the fresh outbreak of violence in Kurram district” and announced it will lead a high-profile fact-finding mission to the area “to determine why tribal rivalries and sectarian conflict continue to plague the region, based on what local communities as well as official sources have to say.”
The HRCP noted that it has “time and again warned both the federal provincial governments that increasing militarization is not the solution to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s security problems. Law and order must be enforced by well-trained, well-equipped civilian forces and perpetrators of violence held accountable under the law. In parallel, the pledges made to the former tribal areas in terms of funds and development must be met under the 25th constitutional amendment.”
