4 million ‘abandoned’ Pakistanis living under barbaric Taliban rule: Amnesty

LONDON - Showcasing the plight of tribals in the ‘ungoverned’ areas of Pakistan’s north-west region, a report by Amnesty International has slammed the Pakistan government describing the region as a “human rights-free zone”.

Based on over 300 interviews with residents of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and other surrounding tribal areas, the 130-page report said that the Pakistan government has virtually ‘abandoned’ millions of people in the region.

“Nearly four million people are effectively living under the Taliban in north-west Pakistan without rule of law and effectively abandoned by the Pakistani government,” The BBC quoted Amnesty’s interim secretary-general Claudio Cordone, as saying.

The report quoted a school teacher, who fled the Swat valley with his family in March 2009, as describing how the Taliban took over a local school in FATA.

“The Taliban 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 didn’t like,” the teacher said.

“What’s the point of having this huge army if it can’t even protect us against a group of brutal fanatics?” the teacher asked.

The report also accused the Taliban of increasing the likelihood of civilian casualties by dispersing themselves among civilians during clashes with Pakistani security forces. (ANI)