Peshawar, July 29 (UNI) A recent wave of targeted killings has hit Pakistan’s Pashtun tribal belt, a volatile region along the border with Afghanistan that was a former militant stronghold. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, a media report said. The surge in targeted killings and assassinations has coincided with Pakistan’s controversial peace negotiations with the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group, RFE/ RL reported.
Under a proposed peace plan that has been widely criticized, TTP militants based in Afghanistan would be allowed to return to their former strongholds in north-western Pakistan and bear arms. Local activists and residents said the recent killings could be an attempt by Paki- stan’s powerful army and the TTP to silence those opposed to the peace process, a claim rejected by the militants.
Many of the victims have been Pashtun tribal elders, religious leaders, and activists critical of the army and militant groups in the region, RFE/RL reported. Residents have long accused Pakistan’s military and its intelligence agency of carrying out extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances of Pashtuns, the country’s largest ethnic minority. But many residents do not openly criticize the authorities for fear of retribution. Since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Pakistan’s impoverished tribal belt became the scene of deadly army operations, and US drone attacks.
