Building a Just Peace for Women in Pakistan’s Tribal Belt

While the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan made headlines all over the world, one consequence of their return to power has received much less publicity: the resurgence of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in neighboring Pakistan. Also known as the Pakistani Taliban, the TTP has multiplied attacks on Pakistani security forces in recent months, often from Afghan soil.

This renewed militancy could have particularly grave implications for women and girls in Pakistan’s Northwest, bordering Afghanistan. Defying all odds, women in this deeply conservative region have in recent years made major strides in gaining access to justice, and toward political and economic empowerment.  But much as the Taliban authorities are rolling back women’s rights in Afghanistan, the TTP’s re-emergence as a prominent actor in the area could soon jeopardize these hard-won gains.

Women’s activism within the region’s civil society-led social movements contributed to the July 2018 passage of the 25th amendment to the Pakistani constitution, integrating the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The amendment granted residents of the former FATA full constitutional rights and judicial protections, and ended the separate constitutional status of the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA).

Read the full article on The Diplomat's website.