Following a call by the Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement, thousands of tribesmen gathered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KPK) Miranshah, located in North Waziristan, on Sunday, February 25, chanting slogans calling for unity among Pashtuns and demanding an end to police harassment and militarization in the tribal region.
Ali Wazir, Member of the National Assembly from South Waziristan, who was recently released after spending 26 months in prison, was among the leaders who addressed the public rally and said that Pashtuns will not tolerate any further state violence across the tribal areas.
“We will not tolerate insurgency, bomb explosions and targeted killing in the Pakhtun areas,” Wazir said.
Wazir has been a staunch critic of how the Pakistani establishment has been mistreating the Pashtun community. He is one of the prominent leaders of the PTM, which since its inception in 2014 has demanded justice and accountability for crimes against Pashtuns living in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
Another prominent leader of the PTM, Manzoor Pashteen, also addressed the gathering. “Pashtuns can’t tolerate this insensitive attitude [from the authorities] any longer,” Pashteen said. He has himself faced state persecution for highlighting incidents of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and state harassment. Several charges of terrorism and sedition have also been leveled against him.
میرانشاہ میں دھشتگردی، دھشتگردی کے پالیسیاں، ٹارگٹ کیلنگ، لاپتہ افراد، ڈالری جنگیں،جنرلوں کے ایما پر بنائے گئے ایف آئی ارز اور قید و بند بلخصوص علی وزیر کے بے گنا جیل کے خلاف عوامی ریفرینڈم۔
پی ٹی ایم میرانشاہ جلسے کے مناظر۔#میرانشاہ_پی_ٹی_ایم_کا#PTM_Miranshah_Jalsa pic.twitter.com/MNzzOAlHlz— Manzoor Pashteen (@ManzoorPashteen) February 26, 2023
PTM has been advocating for an end to the war crimes, extrajudicial killings, torture, and harassment of innocent Pashtuns under the pretext of counter-terrorism operations in the region that borders Afghanistan.
Dawn reported Pashteen saying that “tribesmen have had enough of pain and agony caused by military operations conducted from Janikhel to North Waziristan from time to time. Any such action in future will face stiff resistance.”
For over a decade, the Pashtuns have been agitating against the state apparatus, especially the military operations taking place in the name of the ‘war on terror,’ which have caused economic devastation and widespread internal displacement.
— FJ (@Natsecjeff) February 26, 2023
PTM activists also reiterated that the people of North Waziristan and Bannu districts deserve equal benefits from the state reserves and should be given their due share in the oil and gas reserves discovered recently in Bannu’s West Block.
“All the colonial and international forces have joined forces to implement war projects in Pashtun lands, so these forces can’t be confronted without unity among Pashtuns,” Pashteen said.
نن خو بیه شمالی وزیرستان د لر و بر یو افغان نارو ولړزاؤ pic.twitter.com/iA2cx399kh
— Gilaman Wazir (@GilamanPashten) February 26, 2023
