Millions of Pakistanis in the northwest tribal areas live in a “human rights free zone” where they have no legal protection by the government and are subject to abuses by the Taleban, Amnesty International said in a major report released on Thursday.
Residents of tribal areas face Taliban abuse and get no protection from the government, the rights group alleges. In a report, it says the Taliban secured their rule by killing elders and torturing teachers and aid workers.
– Nearly 4 million people are effectively living under the Taleban in northwest Pakistan without rule of law and effectively abandoned by the Pakistani government, said Claudio Cordone, Amnesty International’s interim Secretary General.
The 130-page report, “As if Hell Fell on Me: The Human Rights Crisis in Northwest Pakistan”, is based on nearly 300 interviews with residents of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and adjacent areas of the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP).
The report gives voice to those whose experiences are rarely reported and reveals the abuses faced by the region’s residents.
– There are still more than 1 million people who were displaced from their homes in Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt by the conflict with the Taleban whose plight is largely ignored and are in desperate need of aid, said Claudio Cordone.
Amnesty International’s review of available information also suggests that at least 1.300 civilians were killed in the fighting in northwest Pakistan in 2009, from a total of more than 8.500 casualties (including combatants).
The report documents the systematic abuses carried out by the Taleban as they established their rule by killing those who challenge their authority, such as tribal elders and government officials.
They imposed their rule through torture and other ill-treatment, targeting teachers, aid workers and political activists. The Taleban have particularly targeted women and schools and health clinics catering to their needs.
Amnesty International was told of Taleban insurgents blocking roads to prevent civilians from escaping as villages fell under heavy bombardment by government forces. The insurgents also increased the likelihood of civilian causalities by dispersing themselves among civilians and in and around schools.
Successive Pakistani governments have treated the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan with disdain, ignoring the rights of the area’s residents, particular in FATA.
Over the past decade, Pakistan’s government has veered from appeasing the Pakistani Taleban through a series of failed “peace deals” to launching heavy handed military operations that include indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks.
A teacher quoted in the report, who fled the Swat valley with his family in March 2009, described how the Taliban operated.
– They took over my school and started to teach children about how to fight in Afghanistan. They kicked out the girls from school, told the men to grow their beards, threatened anybody they did not like, he said.
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http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/millions-suffer-human-rights-free-zone-northwest-pakistan-2010-06-10
