A recent and escalating wave of violence by Khawarij extremists across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has left dozens of innocent civilians murdered, abducted or publicly humiliated, underscoring an urgent need for unified local resistance and sustained security operations to protect the province’s citizens and restore safety to affected communities.
Over the past 20 months a pattern of targeted brutality has re-emerged in district after district. On 28 January 2025, three local residents in Shalobar Qambarabad, Bara tehsil, District Khyber, were killed for refusing to pay extortion; two others were wounded. On 2 January 2024 in Mir Ali, North Waziristan, six barbers from Dera Ismail Khan were slaughtered; attempts were later made by the perpetrators to conceal the crime by falsely misrepresenting the victims’ origins. In January 2025 Haji Sher Muhammad, a respected trader and community leader of Tirah Bazaar, was abducted and murdered. In March 2025 two men in Tirah Maidan were publicly humiliated their heads forcibly shaved on the allegation they had not fasted. On 6 April 2025 a young man named Sajid was kidnapped in Tirah Valley and subsequently killed on false charges. On 5 July 2025 in Pizoo, Tank, Iftiaz son of Ijaz was not only murdered but also decapitated and his head displayed on Pizoo Road. In September 2025 a disabled, mentally ill man, Mohammadullah Mehsud, was abducted from Shewa, North Waziristan, brutally tortured and killed. Most recently, on 26 October 2025, an innocent citizen was bound, blinded and executed. In one chilling incident perpetrators placed a quadcopter on the head of a murdered youth to broadcast and glorify their atrocity.
These incidents are not isolated criminal acts but form a deliberate campaign of terror that preys upon ordinary citizens, undermines social cohesion and seeks to impose fear and control through extortion, abduction, public humiliation and murder. The victims shopkeepers, barbers, labourers and community leaders were targeted precisely because they stood for normal life, peaceful commerce and the rule of law in their localities.
The continued expansion of this violence demonstrates that silence and inaction enable extremism. It is imperative that local communities, civil society and law enforcement act in concert: residents must be mobilized to provide timely information and support to security forces; prosecutions must be swift and transparent; and protection measures for vulnerable groups and community leaders must be strengthened immediately. Counter-extremism efforts must combine robust security operations with community engagement, local dispute resolution, and social support to deny extremists the local legitimacy and space they seek.
We call on the provincial and federal security agencies to intensify intelligence-led operations against those responsible, to prioritize rescuing abducted civilians and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice under the full weight of the law. Equally, political representatives and community elders should use their influence to unite local populations against these extremists and to publicly back lawful countermeasures so that residents can cooperate with confidence.
The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have suffered grievously; their resilience and courage in the face of such terror must be matched by an immediate, coordinated response from state institutions and civic society. If these crimes are allowed to continue unchecked, the cost will be measured not only in lives lost but in the long-term fracture of communities across the province.
