Pakistan

Pakistan faces multiple challenges including militancy in the north-west; long-standing tensions with India; ethnic, sectarian and criminal violence in Karachi; a Baloch insurgency; rising sectarian tensions and militancy in southern Punjab; as well as concerns about radicalisation, poverty, governance and natural disasters. Instability in Pakistan is also having a destabilising effect on regional power dynamics.

Internally, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in the north-west are among the most conflict-affected regions. Pakistan’s government and law enforcement agencies are struggling to control domestic insurgents in the federal and provincial tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Instability in the country looks set to increase, with escalating violence and a breakdown in law and order as insurgents attack law enforcement agencies and civilians. Poor governance, a lack of access to justice, high numbers of civilian deaths and internally displaced people, unemployment, and constraints on access to basic services all make the situation worse.

The on-going crisis in the north-west cannot be resolved by military means alone, but needs concerted efforts to consolidate and advance the social, political and economic development of the Pakhtun people to restore peace and security in the region. The government has taken positive steps recently to address some of the concerns stoking discontent in the north-west. Notable among these was the approval of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas reform package (August 2011).

Saferworld has been working to promote peace, security and justice in Pakistan since 2002, focusing on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the northwest.

Participatory approaches to peacebuilding in KP and FATA
In January 2012 Saferworld and partner Community Appraisal and Motivation Programme (CAMP) began work on a three year programme to promote and develop participatory peacebuilding initiatives in KP Province and FATA. Civil society has a direct role to play in local peacebuilding initiatives including mediation and dialogue, building on traditional mechanisms such as the Jirga system. We are supporting civil society organisations in the region to gain the skills and confidence needed to ensure that decision makers understand and act on local security needs and that communities and marginalised groups are consulted in national and international peace efforts.

Jirgas, justice and conflict transformation
In 2012 Saferworld and CAMP completed research on the challenges and potential for Jirgas (gatherings of elders to mediate a dispute) to be used for conflict resolution, peacebuilding and restorative justice in KP Province. This research formed part of the People’s Peacemaking Perspectives Project, a global project by Saferworld and Conciliation Resources, which used participatory conflict analysis to inform the European Union’s planning processes for conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

Previous work
We supported CAMP to research the harmful impact of small arms on security  in 2005 and conduct a ‘Ballot without Bullet’ campaign for gun-free presidential elections in 2008.

This map is intended for illustrative purposes only. Saferworld takes no position on whether this representation is legally or politically valid.