Amnesty International criticises Pak for gross human rights violations in NWFP

London, Aug.3 (ANI): Amnesty International (AI), an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), has denounced the Pakistan government over its failure to check human rights violations and violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly the North West Frontier Province, NWFP) that has left hundreds of people dead in the province.

The AI urged the Pakistani leadership to take concrete efforts to address the cause of concern.

"The conditions are right for Pakistan to show it is serious about political solutions to the human rights violations, poverty, and a constitutional rights vacuum in the northwest," The Daily Times quoted Amnesty International Asia-Pacific head Sam Zarifi, as saying.

Zarifi also appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to announce some major reforms and remove acts like the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) that treat the north western part of the country as a human rights-free area.

The FCR is an old colonial-era law which is still applicable in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). (ANI)