Pakistan’s Pashtuns hold Lahore rally in spite of govt crackdown
ISLAMABAD: The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement successfully held a rally in Lahore despite efforts by the government of Pakistan’s Punjab province and the intelligence agencies to sabotage the event aimed at highlighting the violation of the rights of Pashtuns and the targeting of the community in extra-judicial killings.
Witnesses said more than 4,000 people gathered at Mochi Gate on Sunday evening to listen to PTM leader Manzur Pashteen and others who aired their grievances against the state.
The mood was sombre, said the witnesses, and those attending included a number of non-Pashtuns, who were keen to know more about the movement.
Among those who took the rostrum were Tahera Jalib, daughter of the revolutionary poet Habib Jalib, who read out Dastoor, a famous poem by her father, and Amina Masood Janjua of the Defence of Human Rights Pakistan, whose husband has been missing since 2005.
Advocate Fazal Khan, the father of a student martyred in the 2014 Taliban attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, also addressed the gathering and repeated his demand for forming a judicial commission to investigate the incident that left nearly 150 dead.
PTM central leader Ali Wazir said, “The movement has come to Lahore so that if something (untoward) happens in the future, nobody can say ‘You never reached out to us’.”
Manzoor Pashteen said it was the PTM’s “heartfelt wish” to present the situation hidden from the media and the eyes of the public to the people of Lahore.
Pashteen called for a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” on extra-judicial killings. He also demanded justice in the case of Naqeebullah, a Pashtun youngster who was allegedly killed by Rao Anwar, and thousands of other Pashtuns who were victim of extra-judicial killings.
Pashteen announced the PTM would hold another public rally in Karachi on May 12 and said they would also lodge protest against the media for not properly highlighting the issues of Pashtuns.
The Punjab government’s refusal to grant permission to the PTM for its rally, combined with the detention of its workers, was criticised by PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who backed the movement’s right to protest.