On Saturday night 13 February 2021 Pakistani intelligence agencies arrested Mr. Yusuf Ali Khan, who is a nonviolent human rights activist and head of the UK branch of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). Mr. Khan, who is a UK citizen, was visiting a family funeral in Swabi, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where a large number of heavily armed police officers surrounded the family’s home where he was residing. The arrest of an armless peaceful human rights activist with such an arrogant show of force is symbolic of the repressive nature of the Pakistani regime.
Predictably, Mr. Khan is charged of ‘sedition’, a charge the Pakistani state has always used against dissent, rights movements and democratic forces. However, when the case reached the international media and after diplomatic pressure from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, charges of terrorism were added to his case. This shows that Pakistan does not shy away from using any means to crush dissent. It is ironic that those struggling against state-sponsored terrorism, such as Mr. Khan and other PTM activists, are falsely charged of terrorism. Indeed, the Pakistani military had previously attempted to introduce a discriminatory law (regulation ‘in aid of civil power’) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to specifically arrest Pashtuns not supporting the state’s agenda of war and destruction in Pashtun areas. PTM has objected against this law in Peshawar high court where it was deemed unconstitutional. The case is now pending at the supreme court in Islamabad. However, this has not deterred the military from continuing its acts of intimidation and oppression, as is evident from Mr. Khan’s arrest.
It is worth noting that while PTM activists and other human rights defenders suffer from each form of intimidation, the real terrorists enjoy state protection and join the state in terrorizing Pashtuns along the Durand line.
Despite intimidation, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial murders of PTM activists and a media blackout on PTM’s call for justice and accountability, PTM has been gaining strength as its message resonates with large portions of the society. PTM is calling out the military as the driving force behind the war and terror that have caused immense suffering, especially in Pashtun areas. In response to PTM’s resilient struggle, the Pakistani military, the de facto leaders of the country, has intensified its clampdown on PTM.
PTM activists outside Pakistan have played an important role in raising the voice of Pashtuns and other oppressed minorities in Pakistan. Yusuf Ali Khan’s arrest can be seen as an attempt of the Pakistani military to intimidate PTM activists in diaspora. We condemn the illegal arrest of Yusuf Ali Khan and demand his immediate release. The Pakistani junta needs to understand that these repressive acts of intimidation will not deter PTM activists both in and outside Pakistan.
As representatives of PTM Europe, we call on international human rights organizations, European Union and the governments of United Kingdom and other democratic countries to hold Pakistan accountable for its human rights violation and urge the Pakistani military and its intelligence agency ISI to agree to the following demands:
1. Release immediately Yusuf Ali Khan and all other PTM activists who are arrested on false charges.
2. Stop immediately the assassination, abduction, intimidation and harassment of the PTM leadership and members as well as other human rights defenders.
3. A truth and reconciliation commission must be established for a thorough investigation of extrajudicial killings, civilian deaths in landmine explosions and bomb blasts, harassment and rape of poor and defenseless women and economic and social oppression of Pashtuns.
4. Stop promoting militancy in Pashtun-populated regions.
5. All missing persons must be presented to the court of law. In case they are found not guilty, they must be released immediately and compensated for the hardship they and their loved ones have endured.
6. Tribal areas must all be cleared from landmines, the only victims of which are innocent children and other civilians.
PTM Holland