A former base of the Taliban is now a site of another brutal incident after four women aid workers were gunned down in a volatile area of Pakistan based on the local police and their employer.
Women Aid Workers Fatally Shot
According to NBC News, the chief executive of the college, Fayaz Khan, shared that the team was hired by Bravo College of Technology in Peshawar in order to help local women in gaining vocational skills such as sewing in North Waziristan. Khan also added in a phone interview that their role was tremendous for the local community and it is not the way to give back to someone or to people who worked hard for the poor.
The police chief, Shafiullah Gandapur shared that the women were shot in an apparently targeted attack as they passed through a deserted village close to the town of Mirali in the North Waziristan tribal district. Moreover, the North Waziristan runs along the border of Pakistan with Afghanistan and also served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban and other militants, which includes Al Qaeda, until 2014, when the army stated that it cleared the region on insurgents, CBS News reported.
However, no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The incident which involves the death of the aid workers came in the middle of an uptick in attacks claimed by the Pakistani Taliban in the deeply conservative area in recent months and amid concern that the insurgents may be on a regroup.
Gandapur also stated in a phone interview that the North Waziristan tribal district has suffered badly from militancy for a long time. He also added that the security situation has improved but still we face a lot of problems.
Despite having a similar ideology, the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is separate from the Afghan Taliban. The group which was formed in 2007 targets to topple the government of Pakistan and to establish a government that is in line with their strict interpretation of Islam.
Despite its operations in numerous areas across the country, the Taliban as of the moment does not control any particular area. In the past, in areas under their control, the Pakistani group banned education for girls, and women were not allowed to work. Even nonprofit organizations were also banned from their operations in the area.
In addition, advocates of girls' education have also been targeted in the past. In 2012 members of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for shooting and badly wounding Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai. Yousafzai had enraged the Taliban by its promotions on education among girls.
Even to this day, just like the four women, women aid workers who are working for charities are at risk in conservative tribal areas in Pakistan where many men and militants reject their efforts in empowering women in local society and paint them as stooges of the West.
The police chief, Gandapur also stated that female social workers came there from towns and the nonprofit had not informed them before sending these females to the volatile area. He also added that they had to inform them in their visits as they will be providing the security and to avoid any unwanted incident, The Week reported.
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