fighting in Pakistan puts people in country at risk

Chaos would be one word to describe the situation in Pakistan at the moment.

More than 65,000 people in the country’s North West Frontier Province have been caught up in the fighting between the Taleban and Pakistan’s government forces and have fled their homes in the Lower Dir district as the Pakistani forces continue to take ground from the Taleban.

Judging by what we’ve seen in recent days it looks as though the Pakistani government are pretty keen to shrug off Senator Clinton’s comment of ‘abdicating’ to the Taleban.  But their actions have done very little to assure security for the ordinary citizens in the area.

According to Amnesty, eight civilians were killed in the crossfire yesterday, including a boy and two women in one town in the Lower Dir district. And eyewitnesses have told Amnesty delegates in the region that at least 28 to 30 houses have been completely destroyed.

While the government seeks to take ground we’d urge both sides to respect the rights of ordinary people and the government to ensure that the displaced are getting the food, shelter and healthcare they so desperately need.