Case History: Zarteef Afridi

On 8 December 2011, human rights defender Mr Zarteef Afridi was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Ghundai area near Jamrod Bazaar, Khyber Agency.

Zarteef Afridi was a coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) where he served as the coordinator in Khyber Agency, one of the tribal areas in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the northeast of Pakistan. HRCP was founded in 1986 to provide an informed and independent voice in the struggle for human rights in Pakistan. Mr Afridi was a school teacher in Khyber Agency of FATA and had been a member of HRCP since 1992.

According to the information received, Zarteef Afridi was shot dead on the morning of 8 December 2011 by a group of unidentified attackers in Sangary, while he was on a motorcycle on his way to work at a local government-run school where he served as headmaster. It is reported that his murder was related to his work in organising a congregation of tribal elders to campaign against extremism and terrorism in the area.

Prior to his murder, Zarteef Afridi had been active as the HRCP's core group coordinator in the area. Apart from his role in HRCP, Zarteef Afridi had been active with a number of peace groups in campaigning for the release of dozens of prisoners under the Frontiers Crimes Regulation. It is reported that he had been receiving death threats from local militants for his work on peace and human rights in FATA.

Front Line Defenders and FORUM-ASIA condemn this murder in the strongest possible terms. We believe that the murder of Zarteef Afridi is directly related to his work in the defence of human rights, in particularly in his work in campaigning against extremism in the FATA area. We also see this as part of a pattern of ongoing harassment against staff members associated with HRCP.

Zarteef Afridi is the third member of HRCP to be killed in 2011. His murder follows that of Mr Siddique Eido, a journalist and a member of HRCP in Balochistan province, whose body was found on 28 April 2011 with a gunshot wound in the head and torture marks. On 1 March 2011, Mr Naeem Sabir, HRCP Coordinator in Khuzdar district, was shot dead by unknown assailants. Both of them had been active in campaigning against enforced disappearances in Balochistan.