ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Babar has warned against the creeping Talibanisation of the tribal areas on one hand and denying the people of tribal areas basic medical facilities on the other.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, Farhatullah Babar said that recently the government asked the organisation ‘Doctors without Borders’, providing medical care to people in Bajaur and Kurram agencies, to pack up without giving any reason. The doctors working in this organisation are not foreigners but Pakistani nationals who operate through local hospitals providing medical care in most disturbed areas, and there is no reason why they should be banned, he added.
The PPP senator said that the near siege of the tribal areas and depriving its people of fundamental rights and basic medical care will only widen the gulf between the people and security agencies, he said. The siege of tribal areas is so complete that it had become a black hole where even the Human Rights Committee could not go, he added.
Farhatullah Babar also drew attention towards what he said creeping Talibanisation of the area.
He said that pamphlets, containing Taliban like moral code, were recently distributed among the people by a peace committee in Wana, South Waziristan, banning all socio-cultural activities in the region. “This happened even though the military was firmly in control and a security operation of some sort was also undergoing in the area,” he said and warned against the resurrection of Taliban.
The senator also said that although the officials have routinely denied the incident, the locals have insisted that pamphlets have indeed been distributed warning of dire consequences if moral guidelines were not followed. The PPP senator asked the government to take steps to prevent the creeping Talibanisation of tribal areas.