Peshawar, Sep 22 (NVI) Showing yet again its inhuman face, the Pakistani military today massacred over 30 Pashtun people, including women and children, and wounded many others by carrying out air strikes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of the country.
Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter planes carried out aerial bombing of Matre Dara village in Tirah Valley at around 2 AM, according to reports from the ground.
The bombing targeted houses and huts of the villagers, razing the constructions to the ground and creating huge piles of debris.
So far, the death of 30 people, including infants and women, has been confirmed in the bombings and many others have been wounded or buried under the debris.
According to inputs from the ground, the Pakistani military action has provoked an outrage among the Pashtuns who the predominant inhabitants of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
Displaying the anger, the Akakhel tribe of Tirah decided collectively to protest against the brutal and inhuman action by the Pakistani military.
The tribe decided that they would not bury their dead children and men but would place them in front of the residence of Pakistan Army’s Corps Commander. The women victims would be buried.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) reacted strongly against the Pakistani military action.
In a statement, it said, “HRCP is deeply shocked to learn that a number of civilians, including children, have been killed, allegedly as a result of aerial bombing in Tirah, Khyber district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We demand that the authorities carry out an immediate and impartial inquiry into the incident and hold to account those responsible.”
It underlined that “the State is constitutionally bound to protect all civilians’s right to life, which it has repeatedly failed to secure”.
Pakistani military, under the pretext of targeting terrorists, has been carrying out such air strikes in civilian areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province as it fails to take on the ‘Mujahideen’ of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on the ground in direct fight.
In the ground fight, the Pakistani military has been facing huge losses in terms of men and material. (NVI)
