Pashtun activist accuses Pakistan of unleashing brutality at the behest of anti-terror operations
May 13, 2020
Geneva (Switzerland), May 13 (ANI): A Pashtun activist has accused Pakistan army for human rights violations in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Arbab Sohrab Saadat Jabarkhail, who hails from Peshawar and is now living in London, told ANI that their lives have been destroyed. The plight of Pashtuns of Pakistan runs deep and is rooted in a series of unfortunate historical events that has led to systematic discrimination of their ethnic group. Discrimination along with violent oppressions has severed the condition of Pashtuns who are helplessly fighting for their rights for a couple of decades. They are targeted by the Pakistan Army in the name of counter-terrorism operations against the Taliban and have sustained irreparable damages for none of their mistakes. Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, a movement for the rights of Pashtuns demands a truth and reconciliation commission to address claims of extrajudicial killings and missing persons. The movement also claims that the military supported Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan terrorists, and its leaders are being allowed to return to the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan in a secret deal with the military and the Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence. In-spite of horrific methods of repressions being used for Pasthun movement, PTM activists say they have nothing more to lose and will continue to protest. On May 1, Sardar Muhammed Arif Wazir, a Pashtun political leader, was shot dead outside his house in South Waziristan. The news of his death triggered an outpouring of grief and anger among the Pashtun in the North-West Frontier areas of Pakistan. Though the identity of Wazir’s killers is not known, the PTM and its supporters blame the Pakistan Army and the ISI. Mohsin Dawar, a prominent leader of the PTM, and a member of Pakistan’s Parliament, tweeted upon Wazir’s death that “Arif Wazir was murdered by ‘good terrorists’. Our struggle against their masters will continue.” The hashtag #StateKilledArifWazir began trending on social media soon after.
