Lahore, July 26: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has voiced concern over the discovery of 20 decomposed bodies in Bara area of Khyber Agency and demanded urgent efforts to establish the identity of the victims and to end the pervasive insecurity across the country.

HRCP said in a press state on Friday: “The decomposed bodies of 20 persons found in Bara, Khyber Agency, just goes to show how insecure human life has become in the country, especially in FATA. Irrespective of who the victims are, this is a new low in brutalization of society. If the deceased are common citizens this is a heinous crime. Even if they are militants and have been killed and their bodies dumped by the security forces this is not at a civilized way to deal with them. And who knows the dead could be members of the security forces.

The first thing is to carry out a large search to establish the identity of the victims. And that would be quite difficult given of the large numbers of people becoming victims of disappearance and otherwise going missing across the country. This also shows the urgency of disposing of all cases of enforced disappearances without further delay. An inquiry should also be launched to explore the circumstances of the victims’ death with a view to finding the killers and bringing them to justice.”

Zohra Yousuf

Chairperson