NWFP move will result in chaos, says rights activist

A top human rights activist said yesterday the series of steps initiated by the conservative Islamist government of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province to enforce controversial religious laws there would result in chaos and push its people further into backwardness.

"We see the plight of the women increasing under the MMA (Muttahia Majlis-e-Amal) government's controversial package of law," Afrasayab Khattak, chairman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) told Gulf News over telephone from Islamabad."The laws are targeting women, en-couraging segregation, destroying the education system and dragging the society backward," said Khattat, who himself hails from the NWFP.

"Our province will become more conservative and backward," he said.