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| After five female teachers were killed in the war-torn region of northwest Pakistan, human-rights organizations are becoming increasingly alarmed that the region is even more dangerous than before. (Photo: Reuters) |
Five female teachers were killed in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, only a few days after 21 policemen were shot in the region. The growing unrest in the war-torn area is becoming increasingly dangerous, according to an Amnesty International report released in December. Now the international community needs to decide if it will help - and how.
The latest incident began when gunmen ambushed a van on Tuesday and shot seven aid workers, five of whom were teachers. The aid workers, who belong to a Pakistani organization called Support With Working Solutions, were on their way home from work at a community center just outside the northwest city of Swabi. Driving home in a van, the workers were stopped by two gunmen on motorcycles, according to police. Five female teachers, a female health worker and male health technician were killed.
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The van driver, Abdul Majid, survived and has offered details of the mass shooting. "I think the attackers were already waiting for us," Majid, who is being treated for gunshot wounds at a Peshawar hospital, told reporters. "After they finished firing, they just drove off."
The workers' organization, Support With Working Solutions, was founded in 1991 in order to help underprivileged Pakistanis in rural areas. But it is now feared that the dangerous conditions will prevent workers from traveling back and forth to help children.
In addition to countless tribal and militant attacks in the region, the Taliban has also waged a campaign against Pakistan's education system. Last year, almost 100 schools were damaged or destroyed by militants, according to Human Rights Watch. In 2011, militants attacked 152 schools, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The horrific incident comes on the heels of news that 21 policemen were shot dead by militants in the northwest tribal region of Pakistan. Police discovered the bodies in the Jabai area after officer Naveed Akbar Khan, who escaped, notified officials. Twenty-three policemen vanished early morning on Thursday, during a militant attack that included grenades and automatic weapons.
According to reports, militants lined up the policemen on a cricket field on Saturday and shot them all down. Though no specific group has come forward to take responsibility, it is believed that the gunmen were part of the Pakistani Taliban.
In mid-December, Amnesty International released a scathing report saying: "Millions are locked in perpetual lawlessness in Pakistan's northwestern Tribal Areas, where human rights abuses committed by the Armed Forces and the Taliban are beyond the reach of justice."
The report, entitled The Hands of Cruelty - Abuses by Armed Forces and Taliban in Pakistan's Tribal Areas, added: "The Taliban and other armed groups continue to pose a deadly threat to Pakistani society - thousands have been killed in indiscriminate attacks or those deliberately targeting civilians over the last decade."
The region has been extremely unstable for the last few days after an explosion on a passenger bus killed six people and wounded 52 others.
"After a decade of violence, strife and conflict, tribal communities are still being subjected to attack, abduction and intimidation, rather than being protected," said Polly Truscott, Amnesty International's Deputy Asia Pacific Director.
"By enabling the Armed Forces to commit abuses unchecked, the Pakistani authorities have given them free rein to carry out torture and enforced disappearance."
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