HRCP slams Taliban for killing 2 women
LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). On Thursday expressed its shock and alarm at the previous day’s killing of two women in Peshawar by the Taliban “moral police.”
In a statement, it criticised the government’s inability to prevent the spread of such shameless violations of individual rights, especially those of women. A note, left with the bodies, accused the woman of immoral behaviour and warned others of similar repercussions if they did not reform.
In the statement, HRCP Chairwoman Asma Jahangir said, “The killing of women by extremists and the Taliban over suspicion of their character, even for talking to men outside of their family, has not been unknown in the Tribal Areas. The killing on Wednesday is perhaps the first of its kind in Peshawar, where the Taliban have repeated their Tribal Area strategy of advertised executions.”
Asma said that the extremists’ tactic of taking human lives on whims was alarming, adding even more disturbing was the fact that the government seemed unable, and sometimes unwilling, to stop them.
She said that among other things, the killings pointed to the feeble writ of the state that needed to be strengthened across the country. She said, “It is beyond belief that the government, which presented itself as helpless to enforce their writ in Tribal Areas, is allowing this blatant violation in settled areas of the country as well. The state can certainly do something better than abandoning its citizens to live in areas controlled by the Taliban moral police.”
She said the state must immediately demonstrate that it had both the ability and willingness to ensure that extremists do not have the audacity to deny citizens basic freedom and rights, including the right to live.
“HRCP demands immediate intervention and swift action to prevent future attacks and the Taliban from occupying further territory,” she added.
Source: Daily Times
Date:8/22/2008
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