HRCP raises alarm over deteriorating human rights, security in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Islamabad, Sep 27 (IANS) The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed serious concern over human rights and the security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) province, citing the Pakistani government’s inability to protect citizens’ right to life and liberty, particularly in the merged districts.

A fact-finding mission led by the HRCP held meetings from September 24 to 26 with a wide range of civil society, including the press, the legal community, human rights defenders, and families displaced by conflict, as well as with political party leaders, law enforcement officials, and senior members of the K-P provincial government, including the Chief Minister.

“Principally, local communities and stakeholders have highlighted a worrying link between increasing violence, displacement, and security operations, and the extraction of natural resources under the proposed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mines and Minerals Act 2025,” read a statement issued by the HRCP.

“In many parts of the merged districts, militants appear to be operating unhindered, reportedly extorting and harassing residents, killing those who refuse to comply, and restricting people’s movement beyond the afternoons. Some reports suggest that law enforcement agencies have ceased to operate in these areas,” the statement added.

The HRCP’s fact-finding mission also raised grave concern about the recent killings in Tirah valley in K-P, in which, reportedly, over 30 civilians, including women and children, were killed, allegedly in aerial bombardments by the Pakistani Air Force.

It demanded a credible inquiry, urging the provincial and federal authorities to cease shifting blame onto one another. Inadequate compensation to victims’ families, the rights body said, cannot be a substitute for state accountability and due process.

Raising an alarm, the mission further noted that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Actions (in Aid of Civil Power) Ordinance 2019, an impugned law still in force, continues to legitimise internment centres and preventive detention in clear violation of Article 10 of the Constitution and Pakistan’s international legal commitments.

Moreover, it said, decreased judicial and administrative oversight, alongside weak regulatory mechanisms, continue to perpetuate the practice of enforced disappearances, with allegations of thousands of cases reported, despite far lower official figures.

The mission has also documented the harassment of journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders, particularly those advocating against enforced disappearances.

“The allegation that law enforcement and security agencies have been complicit in forcibly disappearing people who are then traced to internment centres is of grave concern and merits an immediate response from the government,” the HRCP stressed.

–IANS

int/scor/rs