World, Pashtuns are suffocating. Don’t leave us to the mercy of the butchers!
PTM Europe
On November 29, Pakistani soldiers opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in Chaman, a town along the Durand line in the restive province of Baluchistan. One of the victims was Matiullah, an innocent child whose life was so brutally cut short. While his family and millions of Pashtuns are mourning his death, Pakistani media is ignoring this brutal murder and, as usually, Pakistani authorities are putting the blame squarely on the peaceful unarmed demonstrators. What agonizes Pashtuns even more, is the lack of interest of the outside world in their ongoing tragedy. Pashtuns wonder how many more deaths and massacres it will take, before the free world will hold Pakistan accountable for its atrocities against its minority citizens.
The graphic pictures of Matiullah’s murder have prompted Pashtuns to once again organize protest sit-ins and call for the culprits to be put on trial. However, based on Pakistan’s deplorable human rights track record, the killers will walk free, as was the case with Rao Anwar, the notorious police officer whose extra judicial killings of Pashtun youth triggered the emergence of Pashtun Tahafuz (protection) Movement (PTM). Anwar claimed his 444th victim early in 2018 by wrongly accusing the victim of having links to terrorists. All his claims were later proven wrong. And, after tens of thousands of Pashtuns poured onto the streets to protest the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing of Pashtuns, Anwar was momentarily arrested and Pakistani leaders, including current prime minister and military chief, promised swift prosecution. The promise proved hollow. They, in turn, began persecuting leaders and members of PTM. The Pakistani military has since committed grave human rights violations against PTM activists and other Pashtuns. Arman Loni, a prominent PTM activist and scholar, was beaten to death by an ex-military-turned-police officer on broad daylight, because he was taking part in a peaceful sit-in. In May 2019, Pakistani military opened fire on unarmed, peaceful protestors of PTM in Khar Qamar, killing 14 and injuring dozens of civilians. In addition to direct violence perpetrated against Pashtuns, Pakistani military has also resorted to unconventional methods to subdue our struggle, mainly by promoting militant terrorist outfits in and around Pashtun tribal districts. These surrogates of the Pakistani army have been waging a campaign of terror against human rights activists and innocent civilians. In May 2020, Arif Wazir, another prominent human rights activist and PTM member, was killed by these proxies. Several other target-killings of Pashtun leaders and human rights activists have followed since then.
The repression does not stop there. PTM leader, Manzoor Pashteen, is not allowed to move freely and visit his fellow-Pashtuns. In February of 2020 he was jailed on false charges, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of Pashtuns protesting worldwide. Most of the rest of PTM leadership has been placed on the infamous Exit Control List of Pakistan.
We (PTM) however have remained peaceful. Just as Bacha Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgar comrades, we struggle against injustice while remaining strictly non-violent. In the face of unbearable death and destruction and every other form of oppression by the Pakistani military, we persevere and stay committed to our nonviolent struggle. Despite intimidations, death threats, enforced disappearances and torture, we are unwavering in demanding justice and equal rights for all. However, we Pashtuns are alone in fighting the injustices and crimes by a brutal and mighty military with a long track record of murdering its own citizens, as was previously done in Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) and during the Babrra massacre (1948). In this fight, for which Pashtuns have been paying a heavy price, we urgently need support of the international community, particularly the European countries, US, Canada, Australia and international human rights organizations. Our peaceful campaign is not only for our rights but also against extremism and terrorism. We are making clear to the world that Pashtuns are not the terrorists, rather a victim of terrorism that has been created, financed and nurtured by the Pakistani military. The war that has been raging on in our lands on both sides of the Durand line, is not ours. The war on our soil is a project of the Pakistani establishment to pursue its sinister agenda. It is a war for our natural resources and the so-called strategic depth policy of Pakistani military and its intelligence agency ISI. Our entire cities have been razed to the ground, houses and markets blown up, gardens and fields torched, men killed or forcibly disappeared, children mutilated and women harassed or even raped. Ironically, while we are the primary victims of the imported Pakistani terror, the Pakistani military’s propaganda machine has gone to great pains to falsely portray us as violent and terrorists. In the last two-and-a-half years, since the emergence of PTM, we have been able to (partly) restore this image. We have not only directly confronted Pakistani military, we have also helped create awareness among Pashtuns about the sources of terror, war and devastation in our villages. We have made progress in thwarting the military’s plans to reinstate terrorist groups in our areas. We have made life for the proxy terrorist groups of the state difficult. However, our sustained effort to counter the establishment’s narrative, expose their links to terrorist groups and their role in killing and abduction of Pashtuns and protest against its excesses does not sit well with the Pakistani military. Many Pashtuns have paid the ultimate price in the fight against terror. While we keep on fighting against the spread of terror in our areas and to the rest of the world, it is your duty to support us in this struggle.
Pakistani military’s response has been predictable: quash dissent through harassment and physical violence. Instead of heeding the rightful demands of PTM, addressing our grievances and stopping its repressive acts, the Pakistani military increases its brutalities by each passing day. The brutal targeting of Matiullah and other innocent Pashtuns, mostly poor day workers, in Chaman was Pakistani military’s retaliatory response to a massive protest gathering of PTM two days before that (27 November 2020). One of the leaders of this protest march, Owais Abdal, who called out the Frontier Corps (FC) of Pakistan for its intimidation of Pashtuns, has been forcefully disappeared as part of this crackdown. Residents of Chaman have been the target of systematic intimidation by FC for years.
Despite daily confrontations and provocations, we remain steadfast in our nonviolent struggle. For us, non-violence is a conscious choice and our strength. Violence does not fit in our philosophy and will only be a last resort defensive necessity for us. Our only hope is grassroots worldwide mobilization to continue to put pressure on the Pakistani military to cease its terror against us and other minority groups. In that effort, we are committed to continuing a protesting both in Pakistan and in the rest of the world, including across Europe, North America and Australia. We will continue our uniquely nonviolent struggle against the repressive Pakistani military. And despite the powerful propaganda machine of ISI and the total media blackout imposed on PTM’s activities and narrative, we will continue raising awareness about the grave violations of our human rights by Pakistan. We will knock on the doors of parliaments and governments of freedom-loving nations, the European parliament, the UN and other human rights organizations to hold Pakistan accountable for its crimes against humanity.
Referring to Pakistan’s crackdown on PTM, major general Asif Ghafoor, the former director general of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), tweeted in January 2020: ‘Should an already butchered be butchered again?’ Besides flagrantly admitting to the Pakistani military’s repression of Pashtuns, the tweet shows how little respect the Pakistani generals have for human life. We therefore call on the world to not leave us to the mercy of such butchers.
PTM Europe