ISLAMABAD – Under pressure from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for “violation of human rights”, the government has asked the top military and civil administration in all four provinces to avoid using the term “war on terror” to describe the situation in the troubled areas of the country, particularly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as it may cause the application of international humanitarian laws or a United Nations censure.
In a letter recently sent by the Foreign Office to the Joint Staff Headquarters, Military Operations director general, General Headquarters, Inter-Services Intelligence director general, Inter-Services Public Relations director general, heads of ministries, secretary general to the president, principal secretaries to the prime minister and chief ministers, chief secretaries of the provinces and principal secretaries to the governors, all have been cautioned against the use of “loaded terminologies” and the letter stresses that operations against terrorists should be described as “law enforcement operations against miscreants, criminals” only.
The letter said the term “war on terror” should be eschewed as it has been given up even by its original proponents. All those concerned have also been told to avoid using the term in interaction with the media, UN and other international relief and humanitarian organisations. The reason behind dropping the much-touted term is that when it is used to describe the situation, it simply declares the troubled areas of the country as “conflict zones” and invites the application of humanitarian laws of the Geneva Convention.
The letter referred to the comments of the ICRC communication director, in which he had said that the disagreement over definitions with the government of Pakistan was preventing the ICRC from accessing hundreds of prisoners arrested in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on charges of militancy and insurgency. According to the letter, the ICRC had stated that its mandate under the Geneva Conventions applied to Pakistan as conditions of armed conflict existed here.
The Foreign Office said the ICRC’s assertion precisely confirmed the Foreign Ministry’s apprehensions and why it was important to exercise utmost care and caution when using terminologies that were politically loaded.
