Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has offered a deeply troubling defence of recent aerial bombardments and heavy-artillery operations: that such decisions are purely a matter for the federal military, and that provincial authorities are powerless. That claim is not merely evasive political posturing; it misstates the law and shirks a constitutional duty.

When civilians are killed or their homes turned into rubble by state air power, provincial governments cannot hide behind technicalities. They have a duty, and the legal means, to protect life, secure accountability, and prevent unlawful military conduct on their territory.

First principles matter. The Constitution of Pakistan does vest defence and armed forces control with the Federation (see Articles 142 and 245). However, the constitutional distribution of powers does not license the federal state to act with impunity within provinces.

The same Constitution guarantees the right to life and protection of the law: Articles 4 and 9 oblige every organ of the state to ensure citizens are “dealt with in accordance with law” and that “no person shall be deprived of life or liberty” except by law. Those rights are not abstract; they impose positive duties on provincial institutions to protect residents and seek remedies where state action jeopardises life and dignity.

International law reinforces these obligations. Pakistan is party to the Geneva Conventions (ratified in 1951) and to core human-rights treaties, including the ICCPR (accession 2010), which impose obligations to protect life, to refrain from arbitrary........

© Global Village Space